The Minister for Public Works (MPW) Portfolio is a legacy portfolio resultant from many years of acquisition work undertaken by the Department of Public Works dating back to the mid 1800’s.
Historically, NSW Government agencies did not have powers of acquisition and therefore utilised the power of acquisition within the Public Works and Procurement Act 1912 and other previous legislation for the acquisition of land and easements. For example, land may have been acquired for direct Government use (e.g. Police Station, Court House) or land may have been acquired for a particular government project. (e.g. Road and bridge works, Railways, Port works etc,).
Any acquisition using the Public Works Act effectively placed ownership of the land in the name of the Minister for Public Works. Despite this, another Government agency may be the beneficial owner and responsible for all issues associated with that ownership.
Through various machinery of government changes, the Minister for Public Works now no longer exists and the portfolio is jointly administered by the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces and Minister for Regional NSW. NSW Public Works has delegated authority to undertake some limited transactional functions concerning the portfolio, these include but are not limited to:
- Title Rectifications
- Transfer of minor parcels of MPW land to another NSW Government Agency or Local Council in certain circumstances
- Consent to lodgement of development application
- Grant a licence or lease
- Vary, modify or extinguish an easement
If you have an enquiry relating to the MPW land portfolio, please contact the NSW Public Works Infrastructure Property Team using the below form.
MPW Enquiry Form
Please complete all required fields in the below enquiry form and press submit.
A NSW Public Works staff member will then be in touch with you to assist with your enquiry as soon as practicable.