OAKAJEE PORT PROJECT RECEIVES FEDERAL FUNDING

21 May, 2009. The Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd and Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett visited Geraldton on May 21 to confirm the federal and state governments’ investment and support for the Oakajee Port Project, and its importance as a critical element of Australia’s economic future. Earlier in May, in the 2009-2010 Federal and West Australian state government budgets, each government pledged $339 million towards the development of common user facilities at the deep-sea commodities port at Oakajee over the next four years. The balance of the approximately $4 billion required for the development of the port and rail infrastructure will come from the private sector.

The tender to develop a new deepwater port at Oakajee capable of servicing the anticipated needs of miners in the Mid West Region of Western was won by Oakajee Port and Rail (OPR) in July 2008. Murchison Metals Limited and Mitsubishi Development Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan, each hold a 50% economic interest in OPR.

The Oakajee Port Project is located approximately 20 kilometres north of Geraldton, while the iron ore deposits which will be exported from Oakajee are located several hundred kilometres to the north east and south east of Geraldton. Total project costs is estimated to date at approximately $4 billion are comprised of $2.4 billion in the rail, and $1.6 billion at the port for marine works including breakwater and dredging, and for land-based materials handling and port-related rail works.

The Prime Minister said: “I think the whole nation should pause for a moment and reflect on where this great project takes not just the great state of Western Australia, but also Australia itself in the decades ahead. We are proud to be co-investors with the WA Government… We are looking at how we can take this development and turn it into the next chapter of Australia’s national economic vision.”

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said the project was the start of even closer economic ties with Australia’s key trading partners Japan and China. “If I can say so Prime Minister, this represents an example of a truly joint project between Australia, Japan and China, and it’s the start of a new generation of Australia’s commercial relationship with this part of the world,” Mr Barnett said.


The announcements by Prime Minister Rudd and Premier Colin Barnett build on a State Development Agreement agreed between OPR and the Department for State Development (DSD) in March 2009. A project Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) is scheduled for completion in March 2010.