Government To Retain Comalco’s Consultants

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30058, 16 February 1963, Page 10

Government To Retain Comalco’s Consultants

(New Zealand press Association) WELLINGTON, February 15. To ensure that Manapouri is producing power by 1968, the Government has re*engaged the Bechtel Corporation, of San Francisco, the firm of consulting engineers which has been employed by Comalco.

In the last three years the American firm has carried out engineering work on the Manapouri scheme including an investigation of its design and economic studies.

[ The Minister of Works (Mr Goosman) said today that three senior members of the corporation’s staff would arrive in Wellington on Monday. They would begin discussions immediately with the Ministry of Works on plans for the earliest possible

start on the five and a half miles of tunnel from Manapouri to Doubtful Sound and “get the project under way generally." “In the Government’s arrangement with Comalco to take over the development of Manapouri power, an essential element was to fit the project to best advantage in the long-range power plans,’’ said Mr Goosman. “This scheme must be got under way as soon as possible. It will be an important time-saving factor to be able to engage the Bechtel Corporation as engineering consultants to the Government and to secure the benefit of their work to date.

and Te Anau,” said Mi Goosman.

“However, at what date Manapouri might be raised by a high dam in the Waiau river will depend mainly on the aluminium industry’s rate of development.”

“The Ministry of Works has. over many year*, examined the possibilities of power development in this area and the Ministry’s investigations and preliminary work have also been of great assistance to the Bechtel Corporation.”

Mr Goosman said that In the first stage of development of Manapouri a low weir would be built on the Waiau river downstream of the lake outlet to provide storage for the initial installation of machines to supply power to the national grid and to the proposed aluminium industry At this stage, it was expected that the level of Lake Manapouri would vary within its recorded natural limits, said Mr Goosman. The levels of Lake Te Anau would not be affected in any way in the first stage. “The full power potential of the scheme, estimated at about 700 megawatts of continuous power, depends on maximum reasonable storage of water in Lakes Manapouri