SA Water's Board has been bolstered to help deliver critical infrastructure supporting the state's housing growth, with two new board appointments confirmed.
Secretary of the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Monish Bhindi has joined as a new director, along with Chief Operating Officer in the Department for Housing and Urban Development, Tricia Blight.
Mr Bhindi is the Director of engineering services firm Greenhill and brings decades of engineering and urban development expertise to the board. He specialises in the development of residential and commercial projects, as well as major infrastructure projects.
With SA Water to embark upon unprecedented levels of network growth, it's important the government has a voice on the board and Ms Blight has 20 years' experience in government financial management and administration, including senior executive roles in the Department of Treasury and Finance.
As announced at the Housing Roadmap, the Malinauskas Labor Government has made it a priority to ensure the SA Water Board will be a skills-based board.
The Government is investing a record $1.5 billion in water and sewer infrastructure, helping to remove critical barriers in the construction of new homes.
Of this, $1.2 billion will be spent over the next four years to expand the water and sewer network to greenfield development sites in Adelaide's metropolitan growth front.
Both Ms Blight and Mr Bhindi will bring a significant wealth of expertise in the housing and development industries to support SA Water in delivering this crucial infrastructure investment program.
This follows the completion of terms by outgoing board directors Janet Finlay and Chris Ford, who were appointed to the SA Water Board in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
As put by Nick Champion
I want to thank Monish and Tricia for accepting the role and bringing their expertise to the SA Water Board.
Their appointments, together with the other directors, will ensure the board has the skills and experience required to help us unlock more housing opportunities in this State.
The State Government has made record investments in water and sewer infrastructure and it's important we have a skills-based board to oversee the rollout of network growth.
