WA boom transforms Karratha

Three decades ago, Karratha was a small town in the middle of nowhere, with a red dirt-stained main drag offering little more than a supermarket.

But the mining boom that has turned Karratha into Australia's richest regional town, with an average income of $87,000, is also transforming the Pilbara town, which looks likely to become WA's newest city.

Residential projects are helping to ease housing shortages that caused prices to rocket to the second highest in the country at the height of the boom.

At the weekend, Premier Colin Barnett and Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls opened Karratha's new main street - a revamped Sharpe Avenue that the Karratha and Districts Chamber of Commerce and industry said "will have it all . . . a great mix of shops, offices, entertainment and, of course, inner-city living". Hundreds watched as the pair declared the avenue open at a street party.

A tapas bar and a trendy cafe that serves up "decent coffee" were cited by many to be signs that Karratha is coming of age.

The Sharpe Avenue project is part of a $65 million redevelopment of Karratha funded by the Royalties for Regions program.

Other new infrastructure includes the Karratha Leisureplex, a high school and a yet-to-be-built Karratha Health Campus. Mr Barnett said Karratha was still a "frontier town" but described its transformation as a rebirth.

Mr Grylls, who recently announced he would move his young family to Karratha after he stepped down as leader of the WA Nationals, hoped many fly-in, fly-out workers would choose to call Karratha home now that services on offer were comparable with those in suburban Perth.

He denied the Pilbara was having a downturn and said the Government wanted to grow Karratha's population from 18,000 to 50,000 by 2035.

Shire of Roebourne chief executive Chris Adams said Karratha's infrastructure and services were finally catching up to demand.