More like it to come? ... Warragamba Dam / Pic: Polair3 Source: The Daily Telegraph
UP to 100 dams could be built across the country to prevent floods, fuel power stations and irrigate a food boom to feed 120 million people across the Asia Pacific region, under plans being considered by Opposition leader Tony Abbott.
In the second high-level policy leak in a week, The Daily Telegraph has obtained a copy of the Coalition's draft policy discussion paper for water management of Australia.
Included in the list of dam projects, which the Coalition will consider, is a $500 million plan to raise Warragamba Dam in Sydney, and new dams for NSW in the Hunter Valley, Central Highlands and along the Lachlan River.
The last major new dam built in NSW was Splitrock - in northern NSW in 1987.
The majority of the dams would be in northern Australia, where they would be used to irrigate arid zones for agriculture and more than double Australia's food production.
Claiming the environmental lobby had been to blame for the lack of new water infrastructure, the report from the Coalition's water taskforce endorses a major dam-building program to "help feed 120 million people and beyond over the coming decades".
The total cost of the water plan, if all projects were approved, would be $30 billion - and would be funded by a mix of public and private sector finance.
The document was written by a Coalition taskforce chaired by shadow finance minister Andrew Robb and deputy chair Barnaby Joyce, shadow environment minister Greg Hunt, spokesman on northern Australia Ian MacDonald, spokesman on the Murray Darling Simon Birmingham and Senator Bill Heffernan.Attached to the document is a list of 100 dams across the nation the Coalition has identified as potential projects. The document explicitly states the Coalition does not necessarily endorse all the projects.
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One of the projects involves transporting water from the Kimberley region, 1500km to Perth, using canals, pipelines and ocean super tankers or large synthetic bags towed behind tug boats.
The document clearly favours many of the projects, including those identified as flood-mitigation measures, and larger projects that would be used to irrigate a new food bowl in the Top End.
The draft paper claims a final Coalition policy on dams and water management will be released in early 2013.
Mr Robb, in a foreword to the document, claimed: "We have identified more than 100 dams and water management proposals. A Coalition government will not support the construction of dams for the simple sake of building dams, however, it will back projects that bring demonstrable community benefits.
"Many opportunities to pursue projects that would enhance water security, help to mitigate floods, provide hydro power, and perhaps most importantly to grow our economic prosperity while being sensitive to the environment, have been missed."
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