{"id":31260,"date":"2018-04-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/water-schemes-left-high-and-dry\/"},"modified":"2018-04-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T12:00:00","slug":"water-schemes-left-high-and-dry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/water-schemes-left-high-and-dry\/","title":{"rendered":"Water schemes left \u2018high and dry\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\u201cThis Government has now raided $100 million and effectively pulled the plug on any lifeline for rural communities,\u201d Guy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese projects, such as Hunter Downs and Hurunui, are about rural communities providing for much wider regional development and what needs to be remembered is that this Crown funding is not a grant. It\u2019s a loan and it\u2019s all paid back.<\/p>\n

Farmers had invested time, energy and cash, much from their back pockets, to benefit regional economies, knowing they would have the Government partner them for support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese schemes have met their environmental obligations to get this far and gain that support \u2013 now they have been left high and dry.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there is a suggestion the gaps could be filled through the Government\u2019s new provincial growth fund, it would pay only for the crumbs.<\/p>\n

Last week the Government said it will begin winding down public funding for large-scale irrigation through Crown Irrigation Investments.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the announcement followed an extensive review of how to wind down the funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cLarge-scale, private irrigation schemes should be economically viable on their own without requiring significant public financing,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n

Guy said questions in Parliament had Agriculture Minister Damien O\u2019Connor embarrassingly correcting the official record.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe conceded that he has never met with CII officials in his capacity as minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find this extraordinary given three proposed irrigation schemes, Hunter Downs in South Canterbury, Hurunui in North Canterbury and Flaxbourne in Marlborough have had their funding cancelled.<\/p>\n

CII chief executive Murray Gribben confirmed O\u2019Connor had not personally engaged with CII.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he did advise us that consultation would be undertaken by the Primary Industries Ministry and Treasury to understand existing commitments and arrangements,\u201d Gribben said.<\/p>\n

Guy claims the Crown has legal and moral obligations to many of the projects, especially Hunter Downs where $40 million was raised locally and investment term sheets had been offered by CII.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Government is scrambling and panicking to satisfy their election commitments they now realise they can\u2019t meet,\u201d Guy said.<\/p>\n

Robertson said existing CII commitments for development contracts will be honoured to the close of the current phase of each contract.<\/p>\n

The three commitments are for completion of Central Plains Water stage two, construction of the Kurow-Duntroon scheme in South Canterbury and the construction of the Waimea Community Dam in Tasman.<\/p>\n

Hunter Downs project manager Stacey Scott said the announcement was devastating and it is a case now of asking shareholders to be patient while conversations with the Government continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believed we had a committed term sheet with CII and that we would be supported by the new Government \u2013 we were reliant on that for our future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about farming. This project has been packaged to be able to provide for the wider community. We had options to supply water to both the Waimate and Timaru District Councils plus augmentation of the Wainono Lagoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott expects to know more on a future direction in the next week.<\/p>\n

Likewise, North Canterbury Federated Farmers president Lynda Murchison said the Hurunui Water Project is equally about the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cHurunui has a much bigger problem than a few farmers wanting water for dairy conversion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are drought prone \u2013 this is a district-wide project and we are absolutely pushing hard for the benefit of the whole Hurunui District,\u201d Murchison said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an abundance of water resources, more than enough to go around, but we have to be really smart how we manage this.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project is about that management and somehow we have to find the way to keep pushing on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marlborough District Council confirmed provision is in place for the Flaxbourne scheme to go ahead.<\/p>\n

The cost of the scheme will be fully met by subscribers with existing commitments to fund the investigation and early design phases to be honoured.<\/p>\n

Wairarapa Water project director Michael Bassett-Foss said a contract with the Crown would expire in August and given Crown funding had never been a certainty so Wairarapa\u2019s programme was planned for the next 18 months without Crown funding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The canning of Crown funding for water schemes is a \u201ckick in the guts\u201d for rural communities, especially when six regions have been declared in drought this year, National Party agriculture spokesman Nathan Guy says.\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":31261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t