Centralines wastes $200k on dam pipe dream

My response

Trevor Le-Lievre is quite right to question why Centralines is getting involved in water storage (Opposition to $200k spend on dam study 26/1/22). One has to wonder what expertise Centralines has in dealing with water security issues especially when HBRC has already spent a tremendous amount of time and money doing just that. HBRC has in fact been working on this very issue for over a decade with their latest solution being Managed Aquifer Recharge which comes at a cost to ratepayers of $14m. This is on top of the $20m they also spent on the failed Ruataniwha Dam. All to deal with water security issues in CHB.

But what I find most disconcerting is that two of the six directors of Centralines are members of the Tukituki Water Security Group and one was a very public advocate for the original Ruataniwha Dam. To my mind this screams of potential conflicts of interest and per-determination in making this decision. This should ring alarm bells with the CHB Consumers Power Trust, and rather than simply relying on a letter of expectation the Trust should be asking the hard questions of the board which they appointed. After all the $200k gift is money that could well have been distributed to the power consumers in CHB rather than been thrown at the pipe dream which is the Ruataniwha Dam version 2.

Response from Grenville Christie

Dr Trevor Le-Lievre asks in the HB Today why have Centralines put $200,000 of our money into a failed Dam project. The answer is twofold.

Firstly it’s the dam-builders’ desire for public money. Obviously the well at CHBDC has run dry after Council received flak for granting $58,000 ratepayers money to the dam cause. They’ve also approached HBRC with their wares but no takers so far but clearly more luck with Centralines .

Secondly, we need to look at some of the people involved. The beneficiary of the $200,000 is the Tukituki Water Security Project {TWSP} They TWSP is made up of 8 members, most with a track record as ardent Dam lobbyists e.g. Sam Robinson, former member of the Hawkes Bay Regional  Council Investment Co. That’s the people which cost us $20m for lack of due diligence on flooding DOC land.

In advisory role is Andrew Newman, former HBRC CEO and Dam frontman and member Hugh Ritchie who has an honorary membership of Irrigation NZ – Big Dam advocates. There’s our Mayor, Alex Walker, with a track record of spending CHB ratepayers money on the Dam cause and her father Ian Walker, frontman for the now defunct “Water Benefits All” Dam lobby group. He, along with Sarah Von Dadelszen are not only members of Tukituki Water Security Project but also on the Centralines Board,of which Ian Walker as Chair.

With them on the Centralines Board is Fenton Wilson, former Chair of the Pro Dam HBRC 

It was the Centralines Board with this makeup that allocated the $200,000 of community funds to the TWSP which Walker and Von Dadelszen are active members of – not a good look.

Life would be so much easier if some of these people would pursue Wise Water Use of the existing resource before wanting to build Dams at the public’s expense.