Development assessment 2

State Significant Infrastructure

SSI Projects

Identifying projects that are important or essential for NSW

Contents

State Significant Infrastructure

Under Section 5.12 of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act), development may become State significant infrastructure (SSI) in two ways.

First, a State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) may declare any development, or class of development, to be SSI provided this development may be carried out without requiring development consent under Part 4 of the EP&A Act.

Schedule 3 of the State & Regional Development SEPP declares several general types of development to be SSI, including:

  • activities by public authorities where the proponent is also the determining authority and the activity is likely to have a significant impact on the environment
  • large-scale port, rail, water storage or water treatment facilities by (or on behalf) of public authorities
  • pipelines either with or requiring a licence under the Pipelines Act 1967.

Second, specified development on specified land may be declared SSI by a SEPP or by the Minister for Planning making an order that amends a SEPP.

Schedule 4 of the State & Regional Development SEPP identifies a list of the specified development that has been declared SSI in this way and includes the development worth over $30 million in the Northern Beaches Hospital Precinct and the Albion Park Rail Bypass.

Critical State Significant Infrastructure

Under Section 5.13 of the EP&A Act, the Minister may declare any SSI to be Critical State Significant Infrastructure if he considers it to be essential to the State for economic, environmental or social reasons.

Schedule 5 of the State & Regional Development SEPP has a list of Critical State Significant Infrastructure projects, and includes:

  • major transport projects such as the Pacific Highway Upgrade, WestConnex, the Sydney Metro Rail, Inland Rail and the F6 Extension
  • major energy projects such as Snowy Hydro 2.0, Shoalhaven Pumped Hydro Expansion and Newcastle Gas-Fired Power Station.

Specific SSI or CSSI Projects

To find out more about specific SSI or CSSI projects click here.