City of Newcastle says it will stop selling smart poles to private developers, even though its rollout of Smart City infrastructure has been "in line" with a NSW government funding agreement.
The Newcastle Herald reported on Tuesday that councillors had voted to write off a $164,000 debt incurred by an unidentified bankrupt electrical contractor who bought the poles in 2019 to install on private land near Newcastle Museum but never paid for them.
Deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen told councillors he was "surprised" to learn the council was in the business of selling the poles.
A staff report to councillors on Tuesday said the city would keep selling smart poles excess to requirements but seek payment up front.
But the council spokesperson said on Friday that City of Newcastle had "changed our approach" and would now provide the specifications and guidance required for developers to buy the poles themselves.
The council's contracts register shows City of Newcastle paid Sydney company Form + Light $4.77 million to supply German-made Hess smart poles from 2017 to 2020.
The Herald reported at the time that the council was buying at least 300.
The Hess website describes Newcastle's array of smart poles as the "largest integrated, multifunctional smart luminaire installation anywhere Down Under".
The smart poles were funded under the council's Hunter Innovation Project, a partnership with University of Newcastle, Newcastle Now and Hunter DiGiT which received a $5 million state government grant.
The council said on Friday that 250 smart poles had been installed in Newcastle, including some provided at cost price to developers.
"Under the dig once principle, CN works with developers to install smart city infrastructure as part of their construction projects, creating consistency across the city," a council spokesperson said.
"This has included the supply of smart poles to third parties to install as part privately funded public domain upgrades.
"CN's work with the private sector to support the rollout of smart city infrastructure is in line with its funding agreement, with all poles purchased as part of the funding installed on CN city centre upgrades."
Cr Clausen said on Friday that he had sought clarity from council staff on whether it had been profiting from a government grant.
"I haven't really seen the instances before where we've been the middle man trading and dealing infrastructure like smart poles," he said.
"There was a lot of money we got from the Commonwealth and the state and it appeared that it was a reasonable chunk of money that was given without all that many strings attached to it."
