The ACT's Suburban Land Agency says that Whitlam will contain around 2100 people and will be the future home to around 5000 people, with plans for a primary school and shopping precinct.

Stage one of Whitlam will be released early next year, with stage two to follow in late 2020. The school and retail development is set down for 2022.

Two larger, as-yet-unnamed suburbs will adjoin Whitlam, bounded by William Hovell Drive, the National Arboretum to the east, and the Molonglo River.

Huge clouds of dust were ripped up from the scraped Molonglo Valley landscape as fierce, dry winds whipped across the territory over the weekend.

It's this "terra-forming" approach to development which is just one of the concerns raised by the Greens in a private member's bill to be put before the ACT Legislative Assembly this week.

The Greens' Caroline Le Couteur said that planning for Whitlam would also see residents moving in at least two years before a local school and shops are built.

"It is nine years since the first land release in the Molonglo Valley.

"With 15 more years of development to come, we need to fix the problems and deliver better planned suburbs," she said.

"It is time to review what has been built so far and lift the standard."

The Greens want the independent review to deliver a final report to the Assembly by May 31 next year.