Luxon pushes for water infrastructure revolution in Hawke’s Bay
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wants to remove “red tape” preventing large-scale water storage projects from being built in Hawke’s Bay, and nationally.
Speaking to Hawke’s Bay Today, Luxon said dams were “absolutely critical” to ensuring land was productive and his coalition Government was united on their importance.
“We have an abundance of water that is desperately needed in different place.
“And when you think about how it can help transform regions or make land use more productive, that’s all good for us because it means we’re enlarging our economy.
“And when we enlarge our economy, we get higher wages and salaries for regular Kiwis and that’s what it’s got to be all about.
“So we’re very pro water storage.” Luxon said dams were “key pieces of infrastructure” and the need for them was part of the reason the Government had repealed the Resource Management Act before
Christmas. “We think it gives local resilience, enables more productivity, all of that stuff. We want to consent and make those things much easier to achieve and to do.
“That’s why in this quarter, we’re wanting to release fast-track provisions and consenting so that we can actually get critical infrastructure built across the country.”
Hawke’s Bay’s last bid for largescale water storage, a project known as the Ruataniwha Dam, was stopped in the Supreme Court.
The court ruled the then-minister of conservation acted illegally by trying to make 22 hectares of Department of Conservation land in the Ruahine Forest Park available for exchange to Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment Company Ltd (HBRIC) for the $330-million dam project.
Even before the ruling, the dam, and the question of who would benefit from it, caused deep divisions in the region.
The Makaroro Storage Scheme has since been revived from the ghost of the Ruataniwha Dam.
It is the brainchild of Water
Holdings Hawke’s Bay, a private group that purchased the Ruataniwha Dam consents from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
The group says its dam would store 105 million cubic metres of water and ensure a minimum environmental flow runs through the river to preserve its ecosystem, even during the dry season.
The consents expire in 2025 and the group is pursuing the support of an MP for a local member’s bill that can help it work around the Supreme Court’s ruling.