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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 996 asked in the Legislative Council on 18 October 2018 by Hon Peter Collier

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

SPOILBANK MARINA — PORT HEDLAND

996. Hon PETER COLLIER to the Minister for Regional Development:

I refer to royalties for regions funding of $71.5 million for the Port Hedland Spoilbank marina.

(1) Has a business case been prepared for the project; and, if yes, will the minister table the business case; and, if not, why not?

(2) What are the expected annual operating costs of the marina and who will be responsible for the ongoing costs?

(3) Has there been any consultation with port users regarding the Spoilbank marina?

(4) If yes to (3), which port users were consulted and what issues did they raise about Spoilbank marina?

(5) Have those issues now been resolved to the satisfaction of the port users; and, if not, why not?

Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:

I thank the member for the question.

(1) The previous state government approved a business case requesting $72 million for the development of the Port Hedland Spoilbank marina in 2012. This business case was revised in 2016. In October 2018, cabinet approved a variation to the project to progress a re-scoped, scaled back and more operationally affordable design. The cabinet submission included a revised business plan and supporting design, cost estimate and risk assessment documentation. The Spoilbank marina ministerial task force will now progress the project to a detailed design stage, including refined capital expenditure and ongoing operational cost estimates. This material will be incorporated into a final business case for cabinet consideration. At this time, the business case remains a cabinet document.

(2) Advice from independent marine engineers, in consultation with Department of Transport, is that annual operating costs are estimated at an average of $830 000 per annum over the first 30 years of the project. Cost estimates will be refined during the detailed design stage. The state government will transfer $15 million to the Department of Transport to create a special-purpose account to contribute towards the future operational costs of the marina. The state government is in negotiations with the Town of Port Hedland and major port users about funding capital and recurrent costs associated with the marina.

(3) Yes, the project has involved stakeholder engagement since its inception.

(4) In May 2018, an independent two-day marine risk assessment workshop was undertaken in Port Hedland to assess interaction of recreational craft and large ships at the port of Port Hedland and examine the risk mitigation strategies. Attendees included representatives from 30 key stakeholder groups, including the Port Hedland port authority, port users, the Town of Port Hedland, industry, recreational vessel user groups and a number of independent experts. The two-day workshop afforded port users an opportunity to raise issues and concerns and, importantly, to inform the decision-making process regarding the two marina concept plans shortlisted for consideration by the Spoilbank marina ministerial task force.

(5) The consensus of the risk workshop acknowledged that the existing boat launching facilities at Richardson Street are over-utilised and located too close to the main shipping channel, which presents a high-risk factor for recreational boat users and the operations of the Pilbara Ports Authority. The risk workshop concluded that the proposed concept plan, which includes a new channel separate from the existing Pilbara Ports Authority channel, provided a significantly lower risk to users and potentially valuable risk mitigation cost savings to commercial and industry users.