SPOILBANK MARINA —
PORT HEDLAND
789. Hon KEN BASTON to the Minister for Regional Development:
Will the minister please provide an
update on the status of the proposed Spoilbank marina project in Port Hedland?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
As the member is aware, we have put
together a task force to try to ensure that we can take this project forward.
The member would be aware that we found that the project on the table during
the last election, from all parties, made provision for maintenance for only
three years. The Town of Port Hedland made it very clear that it would not be
in a position to take up the maintenance of that scale of project after the end
of that three-year period. That alone would have required an eight per cent
increase in the council's rates, and the town believed, understandably,
that that would not be acceptable to its community. We have been working now on
how we might revise that project. An enormous amount of work has been
undertaken, including a very big risk workshop that took place a few months
ago. We are hoping, within the next two months, to make a decision on the way
forward.