A parliamentary committee has blamed the WA Government for investing in a project without even evaluating the prospects of the investment. The investment in question is related to the millions of dollars that were spent by the West Australian Government on the development of Oakajee Port.

It needs to be noted that it was way back in May, 2009 that the state government had committed the $4.4 billion Oakajee project, a sum of $339 million. The promised money was borne by the Commonwealth, after Premier Colin Barnett had strongly supported financing of the project.

According to the report that was tabled on Thursday, the committee informed that, the West Australian Government had given a green signal for the project without properly analyzing the cost benefits of the project. The committee has also presented its reservations, regarding whether the project will be cost effective and be a healthy investment.

Meanwhile, the Companies involved in the project, Murchison Metals Ltd and Mitsubishi from Japan have postponed the date for the announcement of the BFS to the second quarter of 2011. Prior to the announcement the BFS had to be announced in the quarter ending December this year.

Chairman for Murchison, Paul Kopejtka also announced that rumors regarding Mitsubishi's plans to withdraw from the project were false and were being spread to destabilize the project.