A greenfields suburb once dubbed the ‘‘Cottesloe of the north’’ is back on the development agenda in Karratha, 13 years after a contract to build it was awarded.
A greenfields suburb once dubbed the ‘‘Cottesloe of the north’’ is back on the development agenda in Karratha, 13 years after a contract to build it was awarded.
Mulataga, at the eastern end of the Pilbara city, has long been touted as Karratha’s first coastal suburb. However, the boom-bust nature of the town has thwarted efforts to get the project up.
The City of Karratha is now working to gain support from DevelopmentWA to acquire stage one of the site from the state government, and is seeking $22 million from the federal government’s $1.5 billion Housing Support Program to progress the suburb.
The city hopes the 1,400 lots earmarked for Mulataga stage one will go a long way toward solving the town’s crippling housing crisis, which has driven average rents above $1,100 a week this year.
City of Karratha Mayor Dan Scott said the housing situation in Karratha needed support from all tiers of government.
“We need the state to get their A into G and develop some land in Karratha, which, thankfully I can announce that we have had an agreement with DevelopmentWA for a subdivision in Mulataga that could yield 1,400 houses,” he said.
“Even though they're handing the land to us to get the federal government on board, the state still needs to kick in some money as well.
“The twenty-two million dollars will help to develop the land, and we will be asking the state to kick in some money to help with the infrastructure, the water, the power.”
Dusting off Mulataga plans comes as Karratha stares down the barrel of $35 billion worth of committed projects in the next 15 years, which have been forecast to require an extra 2,000 houses and 7,000 fly-in, fly-out beds in town.
Two major workers’ lodging projects have been approved – construction has started on one – which will add about 2,000 beds to town.
On the housing front, the City of Karratha is considering developer proposals for gifted land, build-to-own models, joint ventures and debt financing to spur medium- and high-density modular housing projects.
Thecity is also lobbying the state government to sell its old homes to the first homebuyer market and build new ones to address its overreliance on renting from the private market.
“This is the growth opportunity that we want,” Mr Scott said.
“Twenty-five thousand people isn’t quite enough to be a self-fulfilling economy, we need to get above 30,000.”
Earlier in August, the state government committed $48 million to unlock 174 lots in Madigan Estate.
A hundred of those have been bought by Perdaman, 30 are understood to have been purchased by Woodside, and the state government has flagged using some lots for social or key worker housing.
A development application for 46 townhouses in nearby Nickol West has also been approved by the local government.
Poor timing
In revealing the new suburb in 2011, former premier Colin Barnett described Mulataga as the “Cottesloe of the north” due to its proximity to Back Beach and a desire for it to attract affluent housing.
The site was included in a $1.5 billion contract awarded to Mirvac Group in 2011 to transform Karratha into a modern city.
A sod turning was held in December 2013 and land was supposed to be released to the market the following year.
But the suburb was poorly timed. The bottom fell out of the mining construction boom one year later and the project fell into obscurity.
Since then, estates such as Madigan and Nickol West at the other end of town have been prioritised.
Lazy lands in several suburbs and the old Karratha High School site have also been earmarked for housing.
In 2022, DevelopmentWA confirmed Mulataga had been shelved.
