Perth airport to Fremantle port link obscene waste of money, say critics
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Version 0 of 1. Environmentalists and the Greens have strongly criticised the federal government’s plan to fund a $1.6bn truck highway in Perth, Western Australia that they say is an obscene waste of taxpayers’ money. In Tuesday’s budget, the government is tipped to announce that it will contribute up to $925m towards the Perth freight link, between Perth airport and Fremantle port, the West Australian newspaper reported on Saturday. The WA government is expected to contribute $235m towards the project. The private sector will foot the remainder of the bill, or about $445m, that it will recoup from a toll levied on heavy vehicles. It will be the state’s first toll road. The project will include upgrading several thoroughfares in Perth’s southern suburbs, including an extension to the Roe Highway. Last week, the Guardian reported that protesters were prepared to lie in front of bulldozers to stop a four-lane highway being built across the Beeliar wetlands. The Western Australian Greens MP, Lynn MacLaren, said the number of trucks arriving into Fremantle was “unimaginable”. “The noise and fumes from that many trucks as they rumble down Leach Highway, through East Fremantle suburbs, then traverse the bridge and barrel through that pinch point at North Fremantle”, she said. “The Abbott government’s priorities, in a time of belt-tightening, are wrong-headed. It will do nothing to ease congestion in the long term, and the destruction to the Beeliar wetlands will be irrevocable if it proceeds.” Kate Kelly, of the Save Beeliar Wetlands action group, said the truck highway to Fremantle would “entrench congestion for people in the southern suburbs forever”. “The federal Liberals have ignored the constraints of their so-called ‘austerity’ budget to find controversial ways to hastily fund a privatised and expensive motorway, which would close local roads and destroy one of Perth’s last viable wetlands,” Kelly said. “This government has made a mockery of environmental assessment processes. Where governments fail in their duty to conserve and protect the ecological and cultural heritage of Western Australia, ordinary citizens will be forced to take extraordinary measures.” The WA transport minister, Dean Nalder, said the new freight route would divert more than 65,000 trucks a day off suburban streets. “We want to create a more effective and efficient freight route for trucks,” he said. “It will be more efficient for trucks, in terms of fuel and maintenance.” Nalder said he did not think truck drivers would avoid paying a toll by using suburban streets. “We will make sure they abide by the rules,” Nalder said. The WA shadow transport minister, Ken Travers, said he was disappointed that money had not been allocated to upgrade the railway freight route between Perth airport and Fremantle port. “Even if it cost $160m to replace the old Fremantle traffic bridge, that’s still one-tenth of the cost,” Travers said. “Has the state government even considered this option?” The federal finance minister, Mathias Cormann, said the road was “an important piece of economic infrastructure for WA”. “There is absolutely no doubt that this project, which we will deliver in close co-operation with [WA premier] Colin Barnett and his team, will deliver significant social and economic benefits,” he said. Barry Healy of the Fremantle Road to Rail group said: "This proposal is a public health, a town planning and an environmental disaster. The $1.6bn should be spent of rail freight infrastructure." |