26/04/2025
The West, today, reports that Infrastructure WA has shown that "Westport can wait" - but doing so would require duplication of bridges over the Swan River.
The only report (all of 5 and a bit pages) available on the IWA website doesn't in fact, conclude that. Here's my assessment of the report, such as it is.
Interesting that:
- Only a summary report is available on the Infrastructure WA website (https://www.infrastructure.wa.gov.au/westport-program-westport-mipa-summary-assessment-report)
- The Summary Report is dated October 2024, so has been around for 6 months
- The Summary Report contains no mention of additional bridge(s), nor whether these would be road or rail bridges. From the community perspective, additional bridge(s) east of the traffic bridge or between the traffic bridge and the rail bridge have been shown to be unacceptable and any such bridge (even a rail bridge to the west of the existing rail bridge) would have a useful life limited by the timing of any move to Westport.
The 'preference' for the 'Extend Fremantle' option is not clearly stated but appears to be based solely on economic cost-benefit analysis, but there is no quantified assessment of risk and uncertainty which are often important in long-term projects, nor of the longer-term negative impact of continued container movements on the North Fremantle area. IWA, itself, states that "despite the economic analysis, further project definition, an assessment of project deliverability, and additional clarity regarding interrelated projects in the area including Australian Department of Defence proposals is required to adequately understand the optimal timing and construction schedule for the Westport program."
As a professional practitioner of policy, program and project evaluation for most of my working life, I can only say that this summary report doesn't provide sufficient information for informed judgment nor does it give me confidence in the assessment process itself.
