BUDGET: The state government has deferred 16 infrastructure projects to take heat out of the construction industry while setting aside funds for a new desalination plant and port at Kwinana.
The state government has deferred 16 infrastructure projects to take heat out of the construction industry while setting aside funds for a new desalination plant and port at Kwinana.
The government has quarantined $4.4 billion for a handful of major new projects, where the timing and other details have not been finalised.
The largest new commitment is $1.4 billion for Perth’s third desalination plant.
This represents the first time the government has committed to a third desalination plant, though the business case has not yet been delivered.
The government has also set aside funds for upgrades to power and port infrastructure and pine plantations.
These provisions are in addition to $1.8 billion the government has already earmarked for a new womens and babies hospital, to replace King Edward hospital in Subiaco.
The $4.4 billion in quarantined funds is on top of the $30.7 billion asset investment program included in the budget.
A new addition to this program is $400 million of initial spending for the Westport project, which involves development of a new container port at Cockburn Sound to replace the existing harbour at Fremantle.
This money will be used for land acquisitions, including for road corridors to the proposed port.
The deferral of infrastructure projects has previously been foreshadowed by the government and been welcomed by industry groups struggling with labour shortages.
The 16 projects to be deferred include the Thornlie-Cockburn Link and the Yanchep Rail Extension, which will be completed 12 months later than previously planned. (See below for more.)
The deferrals will result in $506 million of spending being pushed out from 2021-22 to later years.
Despite this, there is still a very large increase in the government’s capital works program, which is expected to total $8.0 billion in 2021-22.
That is up from $6 billion last financial year.
In addition, $565 million of spending that had been in the forward estimates has been pushed out beyond 2024-25.
Nonetheless, the government’s capital works program over four years will be a record $30.7 billion.
Projects to be deferred comprise:
- Casuarina Prison Expansion Stage 2 - completion deferred from late 2023 to late 2024;
- Tonkin Highway Grade Separations - Welshpool Road and Hale Road - deferred 12 months, completion now expected in mid-2025;
- Tonkin Highway-Kelvin Road Grade Separation deferred two years, completion now expected in 2025‑26;
- Roe Highway-Great Eastern Highway Bypass including Abernethy Road - timing of works adjusted, no expected material delay to 2024 completion date;
- Manuwarra Red Dog Highway Stage 4 delivery timeframe extended one year (supporting Aboriginal employment), completion now expected in 2024-25;
- Great Northern Highway-Bindoon Bypass (new alignment) works deferred two years, completion now expected in 2026;
- Reid Highway grade separations at Altone Road, Daviot/Drumpellier Drive, and West Swan Road deferred one year, completion now expected in 2026;
- Balga TAFE upgrade deferred one year, completion now expected in mid-2024;
- Armadale TAFE campus deferred one year, completion now expected in mid-2024;
- Joondalup Light Auto Workshop deferred one year, completion now expected in mid‑2024;
- Albany TAFE upgrade deferred one year, completion now expected in mid-2024;
- Muresk New Trades Workshop deferred five months, completion now expected in early 2023;
- Thornlie-Cockburn Link deferred one year, operations now to commence in late 2024;
- Yanchep Rail Extension deferred one year, operations now to commence in late 2023;
- Port Hedland Spoilbank Marina deferred one year, completion now expected in 2022‑23;
- Geraldton Finfish Nursery deferred one year, completion now expected in mid‑2023.
