Kwinana harbour backed

The Outer Harbour is set to be built in Kwinana after the Westport Taskforce last week revealed the five short-listed options for WA’s new port development.

The taskforce has spent the past two years investigating options for WA’s future port developments and was considering options in Kwinana, Fremantle and Bunbury.

Of the short-listed options released last week, three proposed the development should be located in Kwinana, while the other two suggested freight capacity be shared with Fremantle.

If given the green light, the option ranked the highest would see a standalone conventional land-backed port extending between the Kwinana Bulk Terminal and the Alcoa Jetty.

It is forecasted to handle the full container load of 3.8 million 20ft equivalent units a year.

The taskforce said this option provided good land transport connections, low environmental impacts in comparison to other options and freed up Fremantle for alternative uses.

But it conceded that the port would displace the Kwinana horse beach and that connecting the last kilometre of Anketell Road and the rail line through to the port could be challenging given existing landholdings and infrastructure in the area.

Ports Minister Alannah MacTiernan said an efficient port with modern transport linkages was “essential to the economic life of our State”. “The plan to build a second major port at Kwinana has existed since the Stephenson-Hepburn Plan back in the 1950s. This is not new thinking; the Outer Harbour port has been supported by both sides of Government for decades,” she said.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said continually expanding the Fremantle Inner Harbour, along with the surrounding transport network, did not “stack up financially” because of constraints in the surrounding area, and that the network to the area would not cope in the next 20 years.

The State Government said building the new port could take up to 10 years to deliver.