The head of Canberra's sole crematorium has acknowledged the city needs a second one but says he doesn't have the budget to run the "grandiose" model put forward by government years ago.
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During an inquiry into the management of the ACT's cemeteries, Norwood Park's general manager Stephen Beer said while his facility would lose business, the demand for cremations in the capital was growing.
When Norwood first opened 51 years ago, it carried out 156 cremations a year.
Mr Beer said this financial year, they were on track to carry out 2000 cremations.
Norwood was coping with the demand, Mr Beer said, with up to 14 cremations carried out a day.
But he said Canberra would likely need another crematorium in the future.
"I think my view goes along the line of the government's view, that probably Canberra as it grows on the southside does need an additional facility. Several years ago I did a workshop to Deloitte regarding that and we looked at the feasibility of doing it but it was outside the realms of Norwood Park's budgeting," Mr Beer said.
"We would much prefer that if something was set up on the southside that we'd be offered the opportunity to run it along the lines of what we do at Norwood Park but I think on the southside from what I gleaned when I did the discussion with Deloitte's that it was going to be fairly grandiose type of situation and perhaps $30 and $50 million were the figures given to us. Well that would be out of Norwood Park's budget to actually set that up."
Asked if it was still outside Norwood's budget, Mr Beer said yes "at this stage".
Mr Beer estimated Norwood would lose about 30 per cent of its business if another public or private crematorium opened up in Canberra's south.
He said they may have to cut staff if another crematorium opened.
Mr Beer also addressed criticism about the size of Norwood's chapel.
In his submission to the inquiry, Father Julian Wellspring from the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn criticised Norwood as providing "the people of the ACT with some of the most disappointing facilities for cremation I have seen anywhere".
"The sterile environment of the facility provided by the Norwood Park operator is embarrassing. Frequently the facility cannot accommodate large numbers of people. The facilities are very limited for a service that is much in demand," Father Wellspring wrote.
Mr Beer said in an "ideal world" the chapel - which can fit 140 people - would be larger.
He said he had drawn up plans to expand the chapel but the board had not made any decisions about it.
City services minister Meegan Fitzharris last month told the committee she had not "fully formed a view yet" about whether the ACT needed a second crematorium.
However the ACT Public Cemeteries Authority told the inquiry the ACT was "underserviced" for cremation services when compared with NSW.
The authority said a publicly-run crematorium would improve their financial sustainability for the long term.
The committee will soon prepare a report for the ACT Legislative Assembly addressing the management of Canberra's cemeteries.
