Premier Roger Cook’s verdict on Riverside Drive facelift that he says could become the new home for Rio Tinto

Roger Cook has thrown his support behind a major facelift for Perth’s convention centre amid concerns about the cost and only days after his deputy called the project “hypothetical.” Senior Government sources claim Treasury officials are baulking at the cost of the project, 18 months after the Cook Government trumpeted the proposed design as an “exciting” vision. On Monday, the Premier denied the redevelopment is in danger of being shelved and confirmed he has even lobbied mining giant Rio Tinto to move-in “We did encourage Rio Tinto to consider that as one of the sites that they’re looking to base their new WA headquarters at,” Mr Cook said. “And two, the project is not in limbo. We continue to work with the project proponents. They’ve put a proposal to the State and we’ll consider it in due course.” The West Australian understands the proposal will be examined by Cabinet’s powerful expenditure review committee this week, but that a final decision on funding could be delayed over concerns about a potential $1 billion price tag. Responding to concerns about traffic disruption during construction last week, Treasurer Rita Saffioti said the project was no certainty. “These are all hypothetical, we haven’t agreed to the full details of that project yet,” she said. On Sunday, Ms Saffioti said she remained “very keen” to see the project go ahead, but refused to be drawn on a budget. “We all want to see a new convention centre, but we have to go through the process and make sure we understand the cost for the State,” Ms Saffioti said. “We need to make sure we get the best value for money for the State, we need to go and make sure that this project can be delivered as we wanted. So we’re going through all those processes now. It’s a big, big project.” The Government has already spent $35.5 million on the project definition phase, with joint venture partners Wyllie Group and Brookfield. Construction was tipped to start in late 2025, with a target completion date of 2029 in time to host the LNG 2029 conference that Queensland’s State Government has now put it’s hand up to host - if Perth can’t. The PCEC has been labelled an eyesore or “white elephant” since it opened in 2004, with the Cook Government promising a redeveloped site would provide billions of dollars worth of economic and tourism benefit. The expanded venue would fit up to 7,000 conference delegates and include 23,500 square metres of floorspace for exhibitions. The project also includes space for a new home for SciTech, a new ferry terminal, a hotel and residential apartments, as well as commercial and hospitality venues on prime waterfront real estate.