An economics professor commented on Thursday that plans for three new satellite cities in Queensland's south east will pose a major problem for people to move to regional areas.

The State Government will undertake the development of three new communities for 250,000 people, south-west of Brisbane. The areas at Ripley Valley, west of Springfield, and Greater Flagstone and Yarrabilba in Logan's south near Jimboomba, will be the target for the construction.

CQ University professor John Rolfe explained the plan for a development of satellite cities would mean less money available to put up infrastructure in regional areas.

"If you're standing back and saying we're going to fit another few hundred thousand or another couple of million people in Queensland in the future, we've got to build this infrastructure, where is it actually cheapest to build it?" he said.

The professor stressed that displacing people in regional areas will be cost effective rather than building huge infrastructure in south-east Queensland.

He added that satellite cities would cut down opportunities for Bowen Basin mining towns to develop.

"The danger is that if governments really heavily invest in these new cities and pour a lot of money into the infrastructure down there, that the regional areas won't get the support we need to make our areas attractive - even though we're the areas where much of the income to pay for these new developments is being generated," he said.

Yesterday, Premier Anna Bligh told media that developing three “model cities” would elevate the lifestyle of Queensland citizens.

Ms. Bligh said that fast tracking the development of these areas will add to the region's urban activity, with the new satellite cities located just 40 kilometers away from the centre of Brisbane.

The move came after the Southeast Queensland Regional released a forecast of 750,000 new homes in the region over the next 20 years in existing suburbs.

The government expects that more than two million people will look for homes in the southeast Queensland over the next 20 years, bringing its population to 4.4 million by 2031.