Waimea dam costs

John Tucker Nelson, July 4 Mayor Richard Kempthorne and the crony leadership and advice at TDC continue the Disneyland journey to foist a white elephant dam that will benefit no-one but irrigators on general ratepayers. For several years now this group has been claiming the pricing, which over the last decade has risen from $42 million to the 95 per cent certain $82m conceded recently by irrigators, as $88.765m. Kempthorne and cronies scoffed at the questions raised about the errors and omission in the 95 per cent certain pricing, calling them irresponsible and misguided.

Even now it will be interesting to see if the pricing (if it ever sees the light of day) includes all the project elements and retains the contingency sums recommended by Tonkin and Taylor, whose original pricing deliberately omitted several elements, as not enough facts were known.

Informed and credible estimates based on the Tonkin and Taylor work suggest the likely project cost to sit between $103m and $138m. This assumes no serious geotechnical faults at the dam wall and in the proposed lake bed are found.

This scheme is not sustainable, and to date no credible science guarantees it will work.

Paul MacLennan

Brightwater, July 5