Pipeline’s funds face delay hit

TOWNSVILLE’S $ 200 million water pipeline is the city’s absolute priority.

Townsville City Council Water and Waste general manager Scott Moorhead yesterday confirmed the local authority was negotiating with the State Government over the timing of the funding for the construction of the pipeline.

The council has awarded contracts and committed to completing this vital project by the end of 2019.

However, the Palaszczuk Government says it will not finalise payment until 2021.

If the State Government sticks to its guns, this could mean one of two things: The council could be forced to source a loan or the project could be held up due to a delay in funding.

Neither of these scenarios will be acceptable to Townsville residents given the cost of borrowing or the cost of pumping, should the water security project be delayed further.

Drip- feeding the payments for our city’s No. 1 piece of infrastructure just to make the state coffers look a bit plumper at the expense of the ratepayer sounds like bean- counting gone mad.

Ratepayers deserve to know if they are going to have to pay interest on a loan to ensure water security.

If the council has to take out a loan, ratepayers need to know why the State Government is refusing to bring the funding forward.

It’s concerning that the project has got to this stage without agreement between the two tiers of government regarding the funding model.

However, all that matters is the project is completed on time and for the same price.

Recent rain has led to a full dam and plenty of spirited debate across the city about whether or not restrictions should have been eased further or not at all.

While there is argy- bargy over the council’s decision to lower the restrictions to Level 2 from Saturday, the city remains united on one issue: Our future water security is paramount.