A Wyndham councillor has sold nearly $19 million of Wyndham real estate and invested $50 million on large swathes of land in neighbouring Rockbank.
Cr Intaj Khan, who is the director of the Western Institute of Technology and has a stake in a number of other business ventures, recently sold nearly 20 hectares of land in Mount Cottrell – the largest a 10-hectare vacant block at 1350 Dohertys Road that netted him $8.45 million.
He has also sold land at 1419, 1455 and 1467 Dohertys Road in recent weeks, each about four hectares, for $3.5 million apiece.
Cr Khan said he had sold the properties because his plans to build a new school in Wyndham and subdivide some of the land into luxury 0.4-hectare blocks had been stymied.
He said the delayed approval of the Oakbank precinct structure plan, which would have affected all four properties, meant he would have to wait a few years to put his plans in action.
“It creates uncertainty in the area, because those people who want to build resorts or hotels or schools, they can’t wait too long,” he said.
“The state government should run the planning properly, otherwise investors like myself will not carry on the project.”
Cr Khan told Star Weekly he had recently purchased about 160 hectares of land only kilometres away in Rockbank, in the city of Melton, including about 18 hectares along Paynes Road, and blocks in Mount Cottrell Road, Iramoo Circuit, and on the corner of Troups and Greigs roads.
He said the approved precinct structure plan for Rockbank would allow him to develop the land more quickly.
“Rockbank is a new community, so I wouldn’t say that I want to do one-acre blocks there,” he said.
“The intention is to make affordable housing.”
Cr Khan still owns a number of Wyndham properties. In his most recent register of interest return, he declared properties in Kingsfield Way, Truganina, Sayers Road in Hoppers Crossing, Derrimut Road, Tarneit, and Boundary Road, Tarneit.
In 2012, Cr Khan purchased the former Mowbray College in Caroline Springs for $6.7 million and attempted to re-open the site as a non-denominational private secondary college, but failed to get enough enrolments to make the school viable. He sold the site at the end of last year for $12 million.
