The long-delayed bridge to Perth's new stadium is proving more complicated to build than the 60,000-seat football ground, with a new $13 million cost blow-out announced.
The 400-metre footbridge over the Swan River will now be built in Perth instead of Malaysia, meaning construction will start again after it was originally supposed to have been finished late last year.
Head contractor York Rizzani has terminated its contract with Toyota Tsusho, because it could not secure the delivery of the bridge components from a Malaysian-based manufacturing yard to Perth, which were long overdue amid ongoing disputes.
A WA company will now be selected to build the bridge but will face a race against time to complete the job before next year's AFL season.
If it is not finished in time, holding events at the $1.5 billion stadium will be a difficult logistical challenge because it has been designed for crowds to either catch a train or walk across the river, with little parking provided.
The bridge delays killed off any chance of this year's Ashes test being played there, which will stay at the WACA.
WA Premier Mark McGowan said the government had no confidence in the ability of the Malaysian subcontractors to build the bridge.
The cost has blown out to $83 million from $70 million - and an original cost in 2015 of $54 million - and could potentially rise further.
"Everything that could have gone wrong with this project had," Transport Minister Rita Saffioti admitted.
Building the bridge in Perth was a better option for taxpayers, with more certainty about the time-frame, up to 250 jobs for locals and significant penalties for not building it by the March deadline, she said.
Liberal MP Liza Harvey, whose former government announced the bridge in 2015, questioned the need and motives for Labor to start again.
She said 75 per cent had been completed in Malaysia before the March election.
"Now we're looking at $13 million extra as a bill to the taxpayers because of their desire to beat their chest about creating Western Australian jobs (to satisfy unions)," she told reporters.
"The government needs to provide evidence to the community of those contractual disputes being the cause of this delay."
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