By DANE LILLINGSTONE
ST GEORGE Springs was supposed to be an invigorating injection into the Warwick commercial and residential market, but 10 years after being approved, it shows little sign of ever being completed.
After the land was bought in 2006 for $3.2 million by Mladen (Michael) Kljaic’s MKM Group, the development started off as a $110 million master planned community, complete with shopping centre, childcare facilities, fast-food chain and a tavern.
Now a lot of it resembles a ghost town. The first stage of the development is complete and today there are 20 houses with a small block of units – many fewer homes than the original 226-lot, four-stage development that was planned.
Parts of the development have overgrown grass and large patches of gravel, along with empty, paved roads.
A response from Southern Downs Regional Council’s Acting Director Planning and Environment Tim O’Brien said the development was an ongoing process.
“The development has commenced, with stages two, three and four now pending completion after council inspections,” he said.
“During inspections of the completed work, council’s development engineer recommended further remedial work be undertaken.”
Michael Kljaic was the face of the development but wound up banned from being an influential person in the project by the BSA in 2012 and has seemingly disappeared from Warwick and Queensland.
A media response from the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) stated that Mr Kljaic was still a permanently excluded individual with the QBCC despite them replacing Queensland’s Building Services Authority (BSA). He is not allowed to hold a QBCC contractor or nominee supervisor licence, or run a licensed company but he can still hold a site supervisor licence in Queensland.
When asked about Mr Kljaic, Mr O’Brien said “council issued a letter to the developer’s consulting engineer on 24 July 2015 highlighting outstanding engineering issues, and is awaiting the developer’s response.”
When asked when the project would be completed he said “(it) is a private development. Council’s involvement is only to ensure the development complies with the conditions of approval.”
This year Mr Kjlaic emerged once more as the director of MKM Group, but this time in Sydney. He is listed as having been in that role since January this year – something he is permanently excluded from doing in Queensland.
Upon calling the Sydney MKM Group phone number on their website, someone answered claiming to be from Sivtech. A quick search of Sivtech reveals a company based in Annerley, Queensland.
Upon further investigation the person clarified they were from MKM Group and that any questions would have to be taken up with Mikey – who they then clarified was Mr Kljaic.
A press release released earlier this year by MKM Group fails to mention his permanent exclusion from the QBCC but does mention his involvement in Warwick.
“Mladen Michael Kljaic has a reputation to ensure the projects are not only completed on time but also meet all the requirements by local councils,” it said.
“MKM group also completed key residential projects in Warwick and Redbank which realised sales totalling more than $20 million which is just proof that Mr Kljaic and his team are able to deliver regardless of the size of the project.”
The Southern Free Times requested to speak to Mr Kljaic in regards to the current state of St George Springs, but he did not respond.
