Dam study is flawed
“A LOT of Northern Australia would win from the $5.3 billion Hells Gates Dam lifting agribusiness and general economic development.” So claims Simon Pressley, head of research for Propertyology, referring to the 2018 feasibility study conducted by Townsville Enterprise Ltd ( TB, 22/07).
This sounds like good news, but deeper reading reveals significant flaws in the feasibility study and the quoted figures.
For example, the return on investment is negative for all but two of the crops investigated, capsicum and avocados.
Additionally, these estimates are somewhat misleading as they include both direct and indirect benefits, but not the indirect costs.
Detailed research conducted on behalf of the North Queensland Conservation Council (NQCC) strongly suggests the dam is not economically feasible.
With water costs from the Hells Gates Dam estimated to be 10 times those in the Lower Burdekin, subsidising such costs would become an ongoing burden to taxpayers.
Hells Gates Dam, when considered in conjunction with other proposed projects for the Burdekin River (including Big Rocks Weir, Urannah Dam and raising the Burdekin Falls Dam wall), would result in the reduction of 30-40 per cent of the Burdekin River’s flow.
This would have immense and permanent consequences for the health of the Burdekin River, coastal areas and the Great Barrier Reef.
Of greatest concern is that each proposal is being considered and assessed in isolation.
NQCC has written to the co-ordinator general of Queensland calling for a mechanism to be urgently created to ensure all projects in the Burdekin River system are examined together.
It further proposes that an independent expert panel be created to review the various studies and business cases to ensure they have addressed the economic feasibility and environmental impacts on the biggest river system in Queensland.
JOHN CONNELL Secretary, North Queensland Conservation Council.