Waimea Irrigators Ltd (WIL) have announced a new funding model for their share of the dam. The institutional investor that rode in on a white horse the day after the Council voted the Waimea Dam funding and governance model down has been side-lined. The story as relayed by John Palmer, chief negotiator for WIL, is that the institutional investor, whom we know not the … [Read More...]
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Dam Decisions
Congratulations to the Waimea Irrigators who have secured a subsidized water supply for the next 100 years (assuming the dam can be built, functions as intended, and … [Read More...]
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Tasman District Council Remains Economical – With The Truth
This Council is always looking for ways to save. We have found that we can stockpile the truth by only using it sparingly. For instance, in the agenda for Tuesday … [Read More...]
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Mistaken By Any Other Name
While researching dams and risk contingency I came across an article in the Journal of the American Planning Association (vol. 68, no. 3, Summer 2002, pp. 279-295) called "Underestimating Costs in Public Works Projects: Error or Lie?" It details the results of … [Read More...]
Shane Jones Challenge To Waimea Irrigators
If a person or persons were receiving a helping hand (like a subsidy) you would think they would respond with gratitude. Not so with the members of WIL. They have two responses, one is denial, and the other is to attack anyone that suggests they are receiving … [Read More...]
Scaremongering Mayor
After the announcement that the Waimea Community Dam has run millions, and millions, over budget before a digger has even put a bucket in the ground Tasman Mayor Richard Kempthorne has gone into over drive with the doom and gloom press releases. As quoted … [Read More...]
Richard Kempthorne The Mayor with Many Minds
Richard Kempthorne The Mayor with Many Minds (and a propensity for changing them often). Mayor Kempthorne is like a housing company that starts a company to do a housing development and when the development is complete they terminate the company and start a … [Read More...]
P95 Probability or Implausibility
For the past 18 months or so I have heard a lot about the P95. What is a P95? Good question! I was told that it was a 95% likelihood that the Waimea dam would be built on or under budget. Given the current state of press releases coming out of … [Read More...]
Dam Budget Bombshell
Early indications of huge blowout in the Waimea Dam price call into question the entire dam process to date. Today, Councillors were called into an extraordinary briefing session ahead of the Community Development Meeting where we were informed of a press … [Read More...]
Grandstand Dam Long Term Plan
The 28th of June full Council meeting should have been about Council adopting the Long Term Plan. However, it was overshadowed by a couple of other agenda items. View the agenda here. A surprising turn of events saw those on council who wanted to raze the … [Read More...]