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https://thedriven.io/2022/08/17/old-petrol-stations-present-a-6-7-billion-problem-that-fuel-excise-must-address/>
"On the corner of Head Street and St Kilda Road at the northern end of the
wealthy Melbourne suburb of Brighton sits a fairly new property development,
448 Brighton.
It marks the end of a frustrating journey for confused locals who had been
staring at an eyesore. The old Mobil petrol station that once filled the tanks
of motorists heading down Beach Road sat abandoned for years.
Locals couldn’t quite figure it out. “How can no one make a buck turning this
into apartments?” Similar sites throughout the electorate of Goldstein,
particularly on Bay Street and McKinnon Road, posed the same questions.
Goldstein was of course part of the Teal wave that tipped the federal Coalition
out of government. At the top of their list of demands? Reduced carbon
emissions. That means the electrification of our roads, more abandoned petrol
stations and a clean up bill in the billions. Especially if Labor resists
pressure to end the petrol price excise cut.
The sticking point in cleaning up a petrol station is the reclamation costs.
The clean up bill of a typical petrol station was about $1 million back in
2011. Adjusted for inflation that’s $1.2 million in today’s money, although the
true figure is likely to be higher as construction costs have outpaced
inflation.
Take a drive through many regional towns, with their booming property markets
and zero per cent vacancy, and you’ll notice the abandoned stations in the
middle of otherwise thriving main streets. The costs of reclamation have made
the property a non-starter for developers."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
