MOLE River Dam, as well as 29 other prospective priority dam sites, will be discussed during an upcoming roundtable meeting in October looking into the countries water infrastructure.
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Member for New England Barnaby Joyce has announced that a National Water Infrastructure Roundtable will be held on Wednesday, October 29 in Canberra.
A ministerial taskforce chaired by Mr Joyce has identified 30 projects which they suggest should be the primary focus of sustaining the nations “water wealth”.
“We have some great opportunities to build capacity in water infrastructure and we have invited investors and the banks to meet with stakeholders and find out what is required to get these projects moving,” Minister Joyce said.
“Water is wealth and stored water is a bank. It’s vitally important therefore that our water infrastructure, in terms of storage and irrigation capacity, keeps pace with the needs of the nation.
“Irrigation contributed to 28 per cent of Australia’s agricultural production in 2012–13. The right infrastructure in the right place will help us meet future challenges by managing this vital resource,” he said.
The Minister said he was hopeful of bringing together investors, irrigators, mining and power industries, financiers, state and territory governments, local governments and construction companies to discuss the tabled proposals.
Mole River Dam was initially touted for a dam back in 2007 when Tenterfield Shire Council contracted a team to develop a design and calculate construction costs.
The firm costed the project at the $100 million mark, but Tenterfield Shire mayor Peter Petty believes an entirely new investigation would be required as that costing “would mean nothing today”.
Mr Joyce said he would now look to work through barriers to get the projects moving.
“This roundtable is part of a longer term vision by the Coalition - none of these projects will happen overnight but this is an important step in the process – a process already underway,” Minister Joyce said.
