An "airport city" projected to soar sky high as an urban model for other Australian centres to follow is getting a major cash injection for infrastructure.
The aerotropolis precinct near the under-construction Western Sydney International Airport will receive $835 million in support as part of the NSW budget, to be delivered later in June.
Some $30 million will go solely to ensuring road signs across the state capital can direct road users to the billion-dollar airport city.
Sydney Water will also invest $644 million to deliver stormwater and recycled water infrastructure across the Mamre Road precinct, northwest of the airport, the state government announced on Monday.
Much of the site is farmland serviced only by local roads and basic infrastructure.
The surrounding 11,200-hectare industrial and housing zone is designed to create thousands of jobs and drive economic growth in western Sydney.
The airport is scheduled to open in late 2026, but delays in building the hub around it has prompted NSW Premier Chris Minns to be proactive.
"The reason we're making that investment is to learn the lessons of previous governments," he told reporters on Monday.
"Communities came, the homes went in, the population massively increased, but essential infrastructure just was never built, or it came years later.
"We're trying to get in early ... whether it's this upcoming budget or the previous two, in southwestern Sydney, you are seeing for the first time in a long time, an investment in essential services."
Other funding includes $150 million for roads around the airport district for freight transport and to account for the city's expanding population.
Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison also noted how western Sydney, housing nearly half of the city's 5.6 million residents, was promised a lot from politicians but delivery had been slow.
"We know that western Sydney has been struggling for a decade or more to get the roads infrastructure that it needs," she said.
The $5.3 billion international aviation hub will cater for up to five million passengers per year.
The area will also be fitted out with a new fire station that will become the largest in western Sydney, with $42 million to be spent on the Badgerys Creek facility and more than 50 extra firefighters.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey was upbeat about the budget on Sunday, saying it would show real wages growing and a recovery in disposable incomes after recent interest rate cuts.
NSW was forecast to record a $5 billion budget deficit in 2024/25 amid sluggish home sales and fast-growing cost of insurance for state employees, according to a mid-year update delivered in December.
