Meridian may help fund Wairarapa water scheme

Dominion Post, http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/local/3090383/Meridian-may-help-fun...

Meridian Energy could be a key financial investor in a multimillion-dollar irrigation scheme for Wairarapa as the project's backers grapple with the massive costs.

The scheme has been under investigation for more than a decade. Five years ago Meridian Energy approached those promoting it, showing an interest in developing and building it.

"They have been our key adviser and any company like Meridian, that has such experience in the management of water resource, we want to keep in the loop," Wairarapa Regional Trust chairman Bob Tosswill said. "Meridian has the ability to fund, manage the consenting process, and construct such a scheme."

The eight-member trust, a combination of farmers and businesspeople, is working on a business case for the scheme and has a written agreement with Meridian to jointly investigate and plan it. Development agency Grow Wellington is also providing management and financial support.

The intention is to harvest water from the Tararua Range and store it for use in times of drought. An estimated 40,000 hectares of land, otherwise left parched when groundwater reserves run low, could be irrigated from the storage dams.

A price tag of $160 million had been put on total capital costs, though that figure was likely to run much higher, Mr Tosswill said.

Although Meridian had capital to own the scheme outright, the trust wanted strong local ownership. "The ideal situation would be for a private and public partnership – Meridian on the public side and farmers and other local funders taking the private partnership. It is a lot of money."