Entsch digs in on hydro
TONY RAGGATT A NORTH Queensland MP says he will pursue the development of the Tully-Millstream hydro-electricity scheme by seeking an independent assessment of its cost and feasibility.
It comes as the project’s former planning engineer says the cost will be “vastly lower” than the $4.2 billion estimated by state-owned generator Stanwell and announced by Cairns Labor MP and former treasurer Curtis Pitt in State Parliament last year.
The Federal Government had been set to announce funding for another feasibility study last August but then cancelled three animals have been locked in cars in Cairns as the region cops record-breaking temperatures.
“It takes just seven minutes for a car to reach 40 degrees. Serious injury or even potentially death can occur if you’re in there for a prolonged period an event amid the fallout from the citizenship scandal.
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said Mr Pitt’s figures lacked credibility and he would continue to lobby for an independent assessment funded by the Federal Government.
The federal LNP MP said the dual roles held by Stanwell chairman Ralph Craven, who is also chairman of Genex Power, which is proposing another hydro scheme in North Queensland, also raised questions of a conflict of interest.
A feasibility study into the project, near Ravenshoe, was undertaken in 1987 but the scheme was abandoned when the Wet Tropics World Heri- of time,” RACQ spokeswoman Lauren Ritchie said.
“While the numbers do appear high in Cairns, that number does not surprise us. The vast majority of rescues we attend are accidental lock-ins. There is never a safe time to leave a child alone in the car.” tage Area was declared. Professor Simon Bartlett, a former Queensland Electricity Corporation planning engineer for the Tully-Millstream Investigation, said a 1989 costing was $549.5 million, or about $1.2 billion now adjusting for inflation.
“This is a vastly lower than the $3 billion to $4.2 billion figure advised by Curtis Pitt in Queensland Parliament,” he said.
But Stanwell is standing by its estimate and denies it has a conflict of interest. “There is no conflict of interest. Stanwell is not undertaking any work or investigations,” the Stanwell spokesman said of Mr Craven’s dual roles.