(Image via ABC)
Written by Chris Kaloustian
Following the recent announcement of the business case and projection of the Dungowan Dam being made confidential, Green’s Minister Cate Faehrmann is calling on the State Government to make it public.
Minister Faerhrmann said “the productivity commission has labelled Dungowan Dam a dud…the Government must release the business case, and if they don’t, we’ll make them do it”
“If the Government thinks Dungowan Dam stacks up, they need to release the business case…” she said.
“…the parliamentary inquiry into new dams didn’t think so…let’s have a look at the business case and let the public make up their own mind”.
The NSW Government response to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Inquiry into new dam states that the final business case will not be made publicly available.
Minister Faerhmann said “this is a National Party election promise and nothing more… it will not provide Tamworth the water security they’re after and it might come at a $1 Billion price tag to the taxpayer”.
State Opposition has thrown their support behind the calls, with Shadow Water Minister Rose Jackson saying the Labor Party is committed to make the business case public.
“Labor absolutely supports the public and full release of the final business case for the Dungowan Dam, the environmental impact statement and all of the documentation around the project” Minister Jackson said.
“It’s important when we’re assessing all of these multibillion dollar projects that we have all of the information publicly available to the community…” she added.
The business case, including the projected final cost and an estimate of benefits remain secret for now, and other aspects that still remain unclear is whether the State Government will recover the cost of the dam through water levies and who will own the dam.