MELBOURNE'S outer south-east frontier is projected to house more than half a million residents by 2026.
Pakenham and its surrounds will be twice the size of Dandenong and Cardinia Shire will nearly triple in population.
FOOD
PRIME rain-fed horticultural land is under threat if Melbourne's urban sprawl continues, warns Victorian Farmer's Federation president Andrew Broad.
"It's really time to start thinking about going up, rather than out. Melbourne is already overstretched with its water needs and to put another 1.2 million people into the growth areas is just irresponsible."
Mr Broad said questions of how such rapid growth would be funded also needed to be answered.
"The question we have to ask is what do we want Australia to look like - do we want to have huge cities while the regional areas continue to decline.
"We have to remember that Australia doesn't have all that much prime agricultural land, and certainly not that much prime horticultural land. Once it's gone, you can't turn it back."
Mr Broad said recycled water needed to be considered to meet the rapidly growing demand.
The manager of sustainable water solutions for South East Water, Ric Clarke, said close to 2000 homes were connected to the third "purple pipe", which provided recycled water for watering gardens and flushing toilets.
South East Water has also supplied recycled water for food production, irrigating parks, gardens and playing fields, including bowling greens and golf courses.
Mr Clarke said that in the future 40,000 homes in the Casey-Cardinia area would have access to Class A recycled water supply.
"This is expected to extend Melbourne's drinking water system by around 4000 to 5000 megalitres a year of drinking water."
GOVERNMENT
THE State Government was improving the way it was planning for population growth, a spokesman said last week.
"We recognise that the south-east of Melbourne is one of the fastest-growing and vibrant areas of Melbourne and we are protecting the way of life for families in this area by planning growth better," he said.
The Government had launched projects to boost the state's economy and provide jobs, and was involved in building 4000 houses as part of an affordable social housing initiative.
The spokesman said the Government was working to lessen congestion on major arterial roads and public transport routes.
EMPLOYMENT
ROAD, rail and sea transport will need upgrading if manufacturing is to survive in the south-east, an industry representative says.
South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance executive officer Paul Dowling said the region would benefit from a new port on Western Port, the duplication of rail lines, and a fast-access road network linking the municipality of Greater Dandenong with those of Casey, Cardinia, Monash and Kingston.
"Currently, good planning - especially in Greater Dandenong - land availability and good road infrastructure places the south-east in a good short-term position.
"Business and employee transport has to be efficient or else manufacturing hubs will not be able to attract workers."
SEMMA expects growth to turn parts of Pakenham and Officer into new industrial hubs.
But, unless infrastructure kept pace with the growth, overseas competitors would cash in on a lack of Australian-made supply.
Industry's greatest challenge over the next 30 years was attracting skilled, tertiary-qualified workers, and changing the view that manufacturing was "dirty, dumb and dangerous" to "clever, clean and critical."
TRANSPORT< p>PROBLEMS with commuting in Melbourne's outer south-east can be fixed relatively cheaply, a transport planning expert said.
Dr Paul Mees, a senior lecturer in transport planning at RMIT, said cost and lack of space made building a second Monash Freeway impossible.
He said the cost of installing extra buses and rail services that are better co-ordinated was much cheaper.
"You can expand the capacity of the rail system relatively easily. As cities get bigger, they fill up and run out of space for roads, and frankly we're at that point now.
"We have the kind of public transport system that is oriented to a much smaller population and for when petrol was much cheaper and there was no such thing as climate change. It's geared towards people driving everywhere. The system isn't even serving people now, let alone for the next quarter of a million [residents]."
There needed to be better public transport to workplaces in Dandenong South and other centres.
He said providing a rail link to Fountain Gate was an economical solution.
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