Industrial infrastructure is normally an arcane subject that only technocrats worry about, yet this year it has become one of the nation’s hottest political topics.
Industrial infrastructure is normally an arcane subject that only technocrats worry about, yet this year it has become one of the nation’s hottest political topics.
Prime Minister John Howard has bought into the issue, appointing a task force last month to identify infrastructure bottlenecks that affect Australia’s export performance.
The Business Council of Australia has also weighed in to the issue, arguing that infrastructure is the single biggest barrier to the nation’s future prosperity.
BCA president Hugh Morgan said Australia’s infrastructure problems were endemic, not only with export bottlenecks at ports but in water, energy and road and rail transport.
Western Australia is no exception, with energy and water supplies two of the most contentious issues in the recent state election.
WA’s ports have become another hot spot, as export volumes have risen and new export industries have emerged.
Business groups applaud the State Government’s increased investment in industrial infrastructure but warn that more needs to be done to accommodate expected demand over future years.
Ian Satchwell, executive director WA at economic consulting firm ACIL Tasman, believes infrastructure provision in WA compares favourably with other states.
“By and large it’s adequate for the current task,” he said.
“The big question is how do we develop it for new industries, which in all likelihood will develop in remote areas.”
Chamber of Minerals & Energy chief executive Tim Shanahan agrees that WA’s industrial infrastructure has “kept pace quite well” with demand, but is looking for further investment, including in regional ports.
“It’s absolutely essential that we don’t have bottlenecks in our ports and transport,” Mr Shanahan said.
Despite these positive assessments, new pressure points are regularly emerging.
In Geraldton, the port has only recently come to terms with increased export volumes from Mid-West iron ore producers.
In Bunbury, woodchip exporter Hansol is concerned that its product will be contaminated and its business ruined if the port authority allows coal exporters to use the same berth.
In Port Hedland, chronic dust problems have forced BHP Billiton to spend millions of dollars on dust suppression and review the expansion of its iron ore production.
WA also has some notable examples of poor coordination.
A prime example surrounds Rio Tinto’s recently built HIsmelt plant at Kwinana. The State Government purchased land to assist the $400 million project and in the process ruined long-standing plans for a north-south road corridor.
Another big project that won state and federal backing was the massive fabrication hall at the Australian Marine Complex at Cockburn Sound.
However, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA director Bill Sashegyi believes the Government also needs to develop so-called high-wide-load corridors so large modules can be transported to and from the AMC (see next page).
Mr Sashegyi said the issue of high-wide-load corridors was one of four points warranting priority attention.
“They are the areas that have been brought to our attention by our members,” Mr Sashegyi said.
Second is the development of a container port at Kwinana, in light of the limited road and rail links to the existing port at Fremantle.
“In the absence of the Fremantle Eastern Bypass and Roe [Highway stage] 8, it is absolutely essential that the Kwinana container option needs to be available earlier than would other-wise be the case,” Mr Sashegyi said.
Fremantle Ports is studying the future development of an ‘outer harbour’ at Kwinana, but Mr Sashegyi would like to see private company James Point proceed with its port project.
A third priority is the development of transport linkages in the state’s South West, so that industries such as alumina, coal, woodchips and mineral sands can coexist with farming, tourism and other land uses.
Finally, Mr Sashegyi believes the Burrup Peninsula – where the State Government has already spent $183 million on ‘common user’ infrastructure – needs even more support to maximise WA’s chances of attracting further projects.
“It has relatively limited infrastructure compared to competing sites in the Middle East and elsewhere,” Mr Sashegyi told WA Business News.
Mr Satchwell said the Burrup Peninsula – home to the North West Shelf venture and the Burrup Fertilisers project – could accommodate only a handful of projects and therefore planners needed to start looking to future sites.
In this regard, a recent Government study identified Boodarie (near Port Hedland), Maitland (near Karratha) and Oakajee (near Geraldton) as potential new development hubs.
Mr Satchwell also called on the state and federal governments to focus more effort on assessing current infrastructure and future needs.
He noted that the industry policy issued by former state development minister Clive Brown included an undertaking to “a comprehensive state infrastructure study to audit the infrastructure that already exists in WA and identify the longer term infrastructure needs”.
Similarly, the BCA called on state and federal governments to jointly prepare an annual ‘state of the nation’ infrastructure report and an integrated reform agenda.
Engineers Australia has already beaten government to the punch.
It published a national infrastructure report card in 2002 and is working with consulting firm GHD to prepare similar state-by-state reports this year.
Engineers Australia WA president John Ruprecht said policy planners should “look at what is needed in the medium to long term and not just at the immediate crises”.
“My vision is that report card will provide a bit of rigour and objectivity in the analysis.”
INFRASTRUCTURE PRESSURE POINTS
- Road freight ex-Fremantle harbour.
- New container port at Kwinana.
- Road and rail links in the state’s South West.
- Burrup Peninsula infrastructure.
- High-wide-load corridors to Kwinana.
- Rising volumes at regional ports.
- Local roads near timber plantations.
