Council on weir path Project ‘must stack up’

CHARTERS Towers Regional Council will lodge an official application with the state government this week to be the proponent for Big Rocks Weir.

The government is yet to endorse a proponent despite Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Minister Anthony Lynham on Monday confirming the council will start work on the pre-construction activities with $3m of state funds.

Councillors unanimously decided to endorse the Charters Towers council as the project proponent – developer, owner and operator of Big Rocks Weir – at a special meeting last week.

The special meeting followed the Palaszczuk government committing $30m to the project, subject to the detailed business case.

Work on that detailed business case, the final step in proving up the Big Rocks Weir project, is now expected to begin before the end of the year.

Mayor Frank Beveridge said before any construction work began, the council wanted to be sure the project stacked up, not just in the short term but the long term as well.

“We have had some strong discussions with the state government,” he said. “Council doesn’t want to commit the ratepayers to anything that will cost more than the potential returns.”

Cr Beveridge said once the cost of building, owning and operating the weir had been determined, in consultation with Sunwater and other government agencies, then a final decision would be made.

He said the council wanted to begin the next stage before the wet season.

Dr Lynham said the government would provide the council with $3m to conduct environmental and other regulatory approvals, geotechnical assessments, detailed weir design, and water product and pricing definition.

“We need to know what the costs are going to be. Is the state government going to impose a cost of depreciation of hundreds or thousands or millions of dollars a year? What will the (state government) be contributing?” Cr Beveridge said.

“We have operated the Charters Towers weir for 100 years and did the upgrade in 1996 with great success.

“We’re hoping we can arrive at the same point with this.”