Meander dam …

Tim Morris Greens Water spokesperson Tuesday 14 April, 2009. Full Disclosure of Costs and Benefits Essential
THE Tasmanian Greens have written to the Auditor General and requested the Tasmanian Audit Office conduct an audit into the entire Meander Dam project including the current roll out of the irrigation pipelines.

Greens Water spokesperson Tim Morris MP said that there is a high level of public interest in whether or not the economic, social and environmental impacts and aspects of the Meander dam project have delivered measurable benefits to investors and users of the scheme, and the Tasmanian community.

“The Greens have written to the Tasmanian Auditor-General as the information Government has provided relating to the market demand and water pricing, investment opportunities, expected financial returns to fee paying farmers and water investors as well as the taxpayer, must be independently tested,” Mr Morris said.

“Given the high degree of public interest in our water resources we believe that an audit of the Meander Dam example will provide much needed data to inform a genuine debate pertaining to the development of other irrigation projects to ‘drought proof’ Tasmania as promoted by the Bartlett Government.”

“It is clear that Labor’s ‘drought proofing’ strategy is contingent upon Tasmanian farmers investing their hard earned capital, or going into dangerously high levels of debt, to pay for costly new infrastructure. A review of the entire Meander Dam project will assist stakeholders in assessing individual financial risk in the context of the new projects, and will provide an indication of which players in the increasingly competitive water market will truly benefit from Government driven drought proofing projects.”

“The Meander Dam project is the most appropriate case study at this time because it is the first major infrastructure project touted for ‘drought proofing’ to be rolled out, and the full disclosure of its costs and benefits will be illuminating for all Tasmanians, especially the farming community,” Mr Morris said.

Mr Morris has requested that the Auditor General’s audit encompass the following areas:

Annual projected costs of the project, and any variation between projected costs and actual costs per annum
The source of funding per annum (including across agencies, departments and levels of government) allocated for the dam construction, as well as the rollout of associated pipelines
Probity issues surrounding any loans attached to the construction project and dam operations, and the payment of such loans, and or interest on such loans, or the deferral of payments of such loans to date
Compliance issues related to the deed of agreement between the Rivers and Water Commission and the Forest Practices Authority, in particular the requirement to locate and establish the Regional Forest Agreement protected forest community type off-set
Investigation into the processes applied, and resolution of the contractor dispute relating to dam construction costs
The total cost to Government of pre and post construction environmental aspects and impacts assessments
All and or any cost to Government for promotion and publicity programmes & materials, and strategies and public and private events
Construction costs of all recreation facilities, and cost of the future management and maintenance responsibilities for the life of the dam
In regard to water use and access for both investors and or water users (irrigators) –what is the total capacity of the water allocation scheme, how much water has been allocated (irrigators and investor), and to who (irrigator and investor) , and for what purpose (irrigator and investor) , and at what cost per mega-litre (irrigator or investor) including a comparison of market rates versus actual price paid, and costs to early entrants to the scheme versus others
Compliance and compatibility of the scheme with any Council of Australian Government Agreements, including but not limited to National Water Initiative goals and implementation requirements and implementation, and National Competition Policy
The financial performance of the scheme
Review of comments and commitments made by Government on the public record and assessment of whether or not commitments have been met or varied through time
Assessment of responsible parties in planning and budgeting for the future decommissioning of the dam
Current and ongoing operating costs of agencies, commissions and or departments
Any indication of the scheme leading to an increase in costs for other authorities and or water users including additional treatment of town water supplies & associated infrastructure use, and or impacting on the financial performance of other sectors such as trout fisheries.