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Camera IconImage Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Westport Taskforce to release 25 scenarios in May

Jaime ShurmerWeekend Kwinana Courier

THE Westport Taskforce will hold events in six local governments in May to display 25 different scenarios.

The Taskforce is working on a strategy document that will help the State Government plan for Perth’s freight needs for the next 50 years and beyond.

People at the events will be shown the physical footprint of each proposed site and the road and rail supply chains to those sites.

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Fremantle, Bunbury and Kwinana are the three locations being investigated by the Taskforce, and a combination of two sites is also on the table, Taskforce independent chair Nicole Lockwood said.

Taskforce chairwoman Nicole Lockwood.
Camera IconTaskforce chairwoman Nicole Lockwood. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Some designs are considered to be ‘light touch’ footprints with minimal physical and environmental impact, Ms Lockwood said.

In Fremantle, the Westport Taskforce is looking at the capacity of road and rail in, and the feasibility of coastal shipping from Fremantle to either Bunbury or Kwinana, she said.

In Bunbury, it is looking at heavily expanding road and rail for a full-task port, or shared-task facility with another location.

In Kwinana, a land-backed option is being considered for the central or southern parts of the Cockburn Sound.

A land-backed facility could not be supported in the north of the Sound, Ms Lockwood said, but ‘island’ options involving an offshore facility would be considered anywhere in the Sound.

Ms Lockwood said Latitude 32 was relevant for a container port in the northern and central parts of the Sound but less so for the southern end of the Sound.

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Costings will not be known at the May events, however, as the scenarios are just concepts at this stage.

By the end of May, the long list will be shortened with just a handful of scenarios to be explored further.

The Taskforce’s draft report is due out in October and the full Westport: Port and Environs Strategy will be available by the end of the year.

To register attendance at the Westport events, or to subscribe to their Beacon newsletter updates, visit Westport Events.

WESTPORT EVENTS IN MAY

City of Kwinana

Saturday, June 15 1.30pm to 3pm at the Darius Wells Library and Resource Centre, Kwinana.

City of Rockingham

Thursday, May 16 9.30am to11am at the City of Rockingham Administration Building, Civic Boulevard.

City of Cockburn

Tuesday, May 7 7.30am to 9am at the City of Cockburn Administration Building, Spearwood.

City of Fremantle

Wednesday, May 15 9.30am to 11.30am at the Fremantle Town Hall, William Street.

City of Melville

Wednesday, May 22 9.30am to 11am at the Level 2 Conference Room in the City of Melville Civic Centre, Almondbury Road, Booragoon.