The true scale of the Swan River pedestrian bridge was on show this morning during the first peek at steel modules which will make up the massive 2172-tonne superstructure.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said few in the public fully understood its 72m span from top to bottom was on par with the Sydney Harbour Bridge, although with a smaller clearance from the water.

Media were permitted to tour the Henderson workshops of local company Civmec, which has about 200 employees working on the project after it was taken off troubled Malaysian fabricators in June.

Civmec is constructing 50 modules for the three massive arches and 24 modules for the deck, each of which will be progressively transferred to East Perth for assembly ahead of a March 2018 completion date.

Camera Icon An artist impression of the Swan River bridge.

“One of the issues about the stadium is there was no expense spared,” Ms Saffioti said.

“That included the stadium — of course it looks spectacular and there’s this bridge as well. There were some very, expensive tastes in the previous government’s grand ambitions.

“This project, while spectacular, is very elaborate and I think people will be surprised but ultimately in years’ time people will look at it and see it as an iconic part of Perth because of the size and the shape.”

Camera Icon Premier Mark McGowan tours the Civmec workshop with Pat Tallon and Jim Fitzgerald where the Swan River bridge is currently under construction. Credit: Megan Powell

Civmec executive chairman James Fitzgerald said the work was “quite easy” for the company, which he said had been originally outbid on price.

“We are always competing against offshores, constantly,” he said. “When we did bid for it before and they were cheaper than us, I said to myself ‘they’ll struggle to do this job for the cost’.”

Camera Icon Transport Minister Rita Saffioti and Premier Mark McGowan tour the Civmec workshop with executive chairman Jim Fitzgerald where the Swan River bridge is currently under construction. Credit: Megan Powell

Premier Mark McGowan said Civmec had been forced to go “back to the drawing board” and compile 60,000 drawings.

“This bridge is being built in Western Australia, by West Australians, using West Australian quality and we’ll get a fantastic outcome,” he said.