Plans for a multimillion-dollar footbridge from East Perth train station to the East Perth Power Station site have been put on ice, after costs to remediate the prime historical waterfront location ballooned to $109 million.
The $39.5 million set aside for Main Roads WA to build the footbridge across East Parade has vanished from the budget papers, with just $2.4 million spent on the project to date.
The cost of remediation and redevelopment at the East Perth Power station site has jumped again.
Meanwhile, DevelopmentWA, responsible for readying the 8.5-hectare site for private development, will spend a further $5 million to finish remediation works, taking the agency’s total spend on the project to $92.7 million.
Coupled with the $17 million Western Power spent on moving electrical infrastructure, the total cost to bring the site up to a workable standard is 263 per cent higher than the $30 million first flagged by former Premier Mark McGowan in 2019.
The power station has had a storied recent history after becoming an object of desire of two of the state’s wealthiest businessmen – Andrew Forrest and Kerry Stokes – who entered into a joint venture to build a $218 million development on the site in 2020.
That joint venture, known as Koomba Kalark, fell apart when Stokes exited in late 2022 leaving Forrest to go it alone.
Forrest was stripped of his exclusive rights to the development by the DevelopmentWA board in March 2023 which sent the agency back to the drawing board to come up with a new masterplan for the area.
It has also been marred by controversy after the site was valued at $1 back in 2020 due to the enormous cost of remediating the land.
A Main Roads WA spokesman said the footbridge funding was tied to the Koomba Kalark project going ahead.
“Given the precinct development joint venture expired in 2023 and will no longer proceed, the funding that had been set aside for this project has been reallocated,” he said.
Main Roads is awaiting the completion of DevelopmentWA’s masterplan for the area, including footbridge plans, the spokesman said.
“Subject to the completion of the masterplan, finalisation of the design of a new footbridge could resume in 2025, and funding will be sought to construct the bridge at the appropriate time,” he said.
The masterplan is expected to be complete by late 2024.
When asked about the new cost blowout and whether the project still reflected value for taxpayers, a spokesman for Planning Minister John Carey said the remediation program would ready the site for much-needed amenity, housing and employment opportunities.
“The site is a highly complex former industrial site,” he said.
“In addition to contamination remediation, the de-constraining of the site required the relocation and replacement of live gas and power infrastructure that serviced the Perth metropolitan area.
“Most of the site has now been successfully remediated, and is considered suitable for a wide range of potential new uses.”
When asked whether the government would revisit the $1 valuation it received in 2020 the spokesman said the government’s focus was on finishing remediation and planning.
“Any steps to evaluate the land in advance of those works being completed would be premature,” he said.
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