Manapouri Work Order

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30062, 21 February 1963, Page 16

Manapouri Work Order

Tht Presa" Special Service WELLINGTON, Feb. 20. Agreement is understood to have been reached on the order in which work will be undertaken on the £3l million Manapouri power project Discussions yesterday between Ministry of Works officials and representatives of the Bechtel Corporation, consulting engineers, of San Francisco, are also und/rstood to have settled a schedule for the construction of a s}-mile tunnel which will discharge water from Lake Manapouri into Doubful Sound. Ultimately, the Manapouri scheme may have 700 megawatts installed capacity, but initial capacity is planned at from 300 to 400 megawatts in 1988. The Bechtel Corporation's

New Zealand-born project manager, Mr Neville Long, said last night that work on the tunnel would be begun as soon as possible. Tenders for the construction of the power house would be set about six months after the tunnel job was started.

Generating equipment for the powerhouse would be ordered between the letting of the two contracts because its design might affect the design of the powerhouse. The corporation’s legal consultant, Mr A. B. Fergusson, would help draw up the documents to be signed by those tendering for the tunnel, powerhouse and other contracts.

Mr Long is in charge of a dam-building project in New Mexico and will be site project manager at Manapouri w en development work begins. With him is an Australian, Mr Robert Taylor, a Bechtel liaison engineer, who was employed on Canada’s Kittimat project for ■ period. Manapouri’s development

would be as spectacular as Kittimat’s (the huge Canadian power development sche >e allied to aluminium production), said Mr Taylor, and “certainly as significant” Bechtel Corporation officials are expected in Wellington within the next few days. While in New Zealand they will be visiting both Manapouri and Whangarei where ‘hey are responsible for the construction of the oil refinery, in addition to having discussions with the Ministry of Works.

The visitors will include the corporation president Mr S. D. Bechtel, jun.; the vicepresident and a director of the corporation. Mr R. D. Grammater; the vice-president and managing-director of Bechtel Pacific Corporation, Ltd., Melbourne, Mr W. E. Arthur: the manager of hydro-electrie projects for Bechtel, Mr T. A. Lang; the chief electrical engineer, Mr J. E. Barkle; and the corporation's supervising electrical engineer, Mr R. L. Grant