THE McGowan government has put the old South Fremantle Power Station up for sale after receiving an “unsolicited bid” for the site.

Potential developers will only have 10 days to put in their own offers, a timeline that had Opposition leader Mia Davies accusing the government of rushing the sale.

The bidder hasn’t been revealed, but one source said Hesperian – created by the merger of developer Adrian Fini’s company Fini Group and Linc Property – was one of the few local company’s with the resources to tackle the project, while billionaire miner Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo Group and media magnate Kerry Stokes’ Australian Capital Equity joined forces to win the right to redevelop the old East Perth Power Station in April last year.

Fremantle council Adin Lang said the redevelopment of the site created a “very rare” opportunity to revolutionise transport around Fremantle and the Cockburn coast.

Cr Lang said Hampton and Cockburn Roads were already congested so the McGowan government needed to deal with the issue before letting the project go ahead.

“The existing rail corridor that passes right outside the power station seems like a logical transport corridor for both heavy or light rail,” Cr Lang said.

“Hampton Road has also been flagged as an option for light rail.”

He noted Labor had a southern corridor rail line in the first Metronet plan it took to an election, but it was excised after the loss to Colin Barnett.  

Transport guru Peter Newman also flagged the redevelopment as an opportunity to get light rail to the southern suburbs.

by STEVE GRANT