Give Fast Ships every chance

I refer to the letter by Bryan Ellis of Save Our Suburbs (Peninsula News, September 5) in relation to the proposed Ettalong Beach fast ferry and the recent debate in Council over the signing of the lease document for the ferry terminal and wharf.

Mr Ellis' opposition to the high-speed ferry service is well known and well documented.

Like all of us, he has a right to his opinion.

He states that one important factor has been lost in the lease debate and that is the fact that the ferry service was to provide a public benefit to the community.

That fact may have been lost on others, but it has certainly not been lost on the company or the business community.

The high-speed ferry was always predicated on two important considerations: Firstly, providing an important third commuter transport link from the Central Coast to Circular Quay and, secondly, providing a service that would bring visitors and tourists to the Peninsula in the off-peak periods.

These factors have been carefully researched in the company's business assessment.

However, the other important factor that Mr Ellis seems to have forgotten is that the signing of the lease for the terminal and wharf is a condition of development consent that was insisted on by Gosford Council.

The purpose of the condition was to ensure that the company continued to move forward with the project.

All the company wants to do is sign the lease as required in the consent.

However, Council appears to be fettering the company's ability to do so!

Mr Ellis also seems to be confused with viability and bankability.

To the issue of raising the required venture capital for the project, obviously a lending institution or investor will require security over the funds to be loaned.

It's like when borrowing for a home, the bank requires security over the property title. In the case of the high-speed ferry, the security is the lease for the land on which the terminal and wharf will be constructed.

A perfectly logical reason for getting the lease signed.

It simply firms up the company's position to raise the necessary venture capital. Hardly a hidden agenda as many critics like to contend.

And in relation to the lease and all the scaremongering about another "Taj Mahal" on the Ettalong beach foreshore, the lease between the company and Council has a series of very strict milestones and provisions that protect the community and ensure that the asset reverts back to the Council on either the cessation of the ferry service or termination of the lease.

And let's not forget that the terminal building has been approved by the Council following an exhaustive public consultation and advertising process.

For me, let's give Fast Ships every possible chance of success.

Matthew Wales, Umina Peninsula Chamber president