Premier Colin Barnett says the Roe Highway extension through the Beeliar Wetlands in the southern suburbs remains "some way away" from becoming a reality, after telling Radio 6PR the project could now cost up to a whopping $900 million.
The Liberal government's pet road project - which will see an extension of the highway from Kwinana Freeway in Jandakot to Stock Road in Coolbellup - had previously been costed from $600-$700 million.
Mr Barnett's office later said the Premier got his figures wrong during the 6PR interview and the estimated cost was still $700 million.
But on the same day it was revealed the WA government was hoping to sell $2 billion in assets to offset bulging state debt, the Premier also made it clear the Roe Highway extension was far from imminent.
This was despite the Abbott government in May contributing $925 million to the Perth freight link between the Perth Airport and Fremantle Port, which includes "Roe 8".
"Roe 8 is an important road project for Western Australia, particularly for getting heavy vehicles off suburban roads," the Premier told Afternoons with Paul Murray.
"But it's very expensive, I think running up towards $800-$900 million.
"We'll never recover that sort of money. We're optimistic that the Commonwealth will provide the lion's share or probably two-thirds of the funding, but I think it's still some way away.
"There are still issues of environmental approval and the like and a lot of design work. There's also public opposition about the wetlands it would need to go through. I actually believe that's manageable."
"It's there as part of the forward planning. We haven't committed to it. I hope that sometime in the next few years we can commit to it."
Shadow transport minister Ken Travers said the Premier was just plucking figures out of the air.
"This just highlights the dysfunctional nature of his transport plan," he said.
"No wonder the state lost its AAA credit rating.
"Whether it costs $600 million or $900 million, you don't have a highway through an international renowned wetland."
Greens MLC Lynn MacLaren said the more the cost of the project blew out, the more the community would reject it.
"The community will never let this project go through the wetlands," she said. "If the costing keeps going up the more the wider community will get behind the campaign, because it's way too expensive.
"It also illustrates how little costing has been done on the project."
- with Nicole Cox
