Perth may become one again thanks to a $190 million plan to sink the Perth to Fremantle railway line between the city station and Lake Street.
While the Western Australian Government is banking on the sale of land freed up by the sinking of the railway to fund $140 million of the project, it has accepted that it will face borrowing costs of $20 million.
The Opposition has given conditional approval to the project but wants to see more details before committing to it fully.
The dream of sinking the railway line appeared to be a non-starter last year when Leighton Kumagai, the consortium responsible for the CBD portion of the Perth-to-Mandurah railway line, estimated that it would cost $200 million to put the railway line underground from the city station to the Mitchell Freeway.
When the Leighton Kumagai estimate was handed down, the Northbridge Rail Link Committee, a body made up of City of Perth, Public Transport Authority and Department of Planning and Infrastructure representatives, was formed.
Sinking the line to Lake Street was one of the first options it considered.
The project now on the table involves not only sinking the railway line to Lake Street but also replacing the Wellington Street bus station with an underground facility.
The project will also link Lake Street with King Street.
A spokesman for Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the project had been overseen by the Northbridge Link Committee.
He said there would also be bridging over the railway line from Lake Street to Fitzgerald Street.
The City of Perth and the Government have agreed to put $25 million each towards the project.
Besides their financial inputs, the Government is committing land worth $30 million to the project and the City of Perth is offering land worth $6 million.
It is understood the East Perth Redevelopment Authority will be the agency in charge of the project.
Initial costing estimates from the WA Government are $70 million to sink the railway line, $36 million for the new bus station, $64 million for development costs and $20 million in financing costs.
A spokeswoman for the EPRA confirmed that the Government would have to borrow some funds and that it predicted interest on those borrowings would be $20 million.
"The overall project will be carefully staged to maximise revenue," she said.
"In the early stages existing cash reserves will be used to fund the project and generate revenue and then funds will be borrowed as required.
"As the project progresses, land sales will repay the project borrowings."
Lord Mayor Peter Nattrass, who has long advocated the sinking of the railway line, said he was thrilled with the decision.
"There could be no initiative in the city more important than the sinking of the railway line," Dr Nattrass said.
The Opposition has given the project cautious approval but argued that the decision should have been made two years ago.
Opposition Transport spokeswoman Katie Hodson-Thomas said she still wanted to see detailed costings and engineering information to ensure the project stacked up.
