Melbourne home owners enduring major disruptions from a $15.8 billion road project could voluntarily sell their homes to the Victorian government.
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Victorian Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan confirmed on Monday that properties experiencing prolonged disruption during the construction phase of the North East Link might be included in a voluntary purchase scheme.
"We work through that on a case-by-case basis with those property owners," she told reporters in Bulleen on Monday.
She said the project's managers are in discussions with property owners near the Eastern Freeway but she said she was not aware how many had taken up the opportunity.
The project, jointly funded by the state and federal government, will connect the M80 Ring Road to an upgraded Eastern Freeway.
It is expected to cut travel times between Melbourne's north and southeast by up to 35 minutes and take 15,000 trucks off local roads each day when completed in 2028.
Ms Allan said a 1.9km extension of tunnels from the original project design has meant fewer homes will be compulsorily acquired.
"There was originally thought to be about 75 properties that needed to be acquired. That's now around 36," she said.
"We're working very carefully with each of those property owners, and I think many of them have ... since found alternate accommodation."
A further 100 businesses in the Bulleen industrial precinct have also been bought by the government.
About half of the businesses have already relocated, with the rest expected to leave by the end of July.
Ms Allan on Monday briefly toured the North East Link's $69 million Bulleen Park and Ride project, which will feature up to 370 car parks, bike storage, and quick drop-off and pick-up parking bays.
The facility is due to open at the end of 2022, four years earlier than first planned.
Australian Associated Press