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A new development at Tuggeranong for 1000 residential units and commercial space should be the catalyst to clean up the town centre's polluted lake, say community leaders. Minister for Economic Development Andrew Barr believes the private sector will take the opportunity to build more units, including some with sweeping views of Lake Tuggeranong, and stem the valley's declining population. A little over a month ago before the federal election Mr Barr warned of savage job cuts and having to downgrade Canberra's land release program. On Monday he said even if the public sector was cut by more than 12,000, Canberra would still have a bigger, more diverse workforce compared with when the Howard government came to office. ''Let's be realistic here, what remains is a workforce of over 200,000, which is considerably more than were employed in 1996 and the natural rate of population increase has been contributing around half of our population growth each year,'' Mr Barr said. The Deputy Chief Minister said annual land releases were likely to be scaled back from 5000 to 4000 dwellings, and reviewed in 2014. ''Further work is being done on what's the underlying demand once we have caught up with the backlog, and that is probably settling more on 3000 a year. ''That's still 3000 dwellings a year. I think the interesting question for us, and the market will determine this, what's the balance of location for those releases between the six remaining suburbs in Gungahlin and the greenfield releases in Molonglo, the urban infill associated with the city-to-the-lake and urban infill with projects like this one.'' The new Southquay will be built on both sides of Lake Tuggeranong with the first stage on the western side expected in mid-2014, with 300 units in six-to-eight-storey developments and three 12-storey towers. Development on the lake's eastern side, which must first be rezoned from community open spaces to residential, will be three storeys and will create 150 dwellings, with blocks released in the 2016-17 financial year. RP Data says units in Canberra are on the market for 89 days on average before being sold, the longest period for all capital cities. Tuggeranong Community Council vice-president Glenys Patulny said the lake was too small for the catchment, and caught gunk, leaves and a build-up of nitrogen after filtering water for the Murrumbidgee River. This fed blue-green algae in summer, causing a stench and regattas to be cancelled. ''The ACT Government has said they will build two wetlands, but we are waiting for them to start. We need six wetlands to filter the lake. In new developments they are building wetlands into the development as they go.'' Ms Patulny said Southquay should be the impetus for cleaning up the lake. ''It could be a win-win, so long as it is done carefully.'' Mr Barr said $7.5 million in civil works would include rain gardens to catch and filter water. Discharged water would then pass through underground pollution traps before discharging into Tuggeranong pond (adjoining the lake). The Land Development Agency and Territory and Municipal Services were reviewing options to improve Lake Tuggeranong's water quality.

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