Developer makes $15.5m profit for contaminated land at Camellia

NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance has referred his own department to the ICAC over the Camellia land deal. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles Source:News Corp Australia. NSW government officials made no attempt to independently verify the value – or to negotiate the price of a piece of contaminated land in Camellia before paying a developer $53.5m for the site. The site, contaminated with asbestos, hexavalent chromium and other harmful chemicals, was bought by a property developer for $38 million in November 2015, just days before the multi-billion-dollar Parramatta light rail project was announced. Seven months later, the government took over the land and the developer made a $15.5m million profit.