Cromwell Opposition To Dam Proposals

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31627, 13 March 1968, Page 16

Cromwell Opposition To Dam Proposals

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, March 12.

Residents of the Cromwell area today expressed opposition to two proposals for future hydro-electric development of the Clutha River.

The people of Cromwell were shocked by the announcement that the town could be flooded, the Town Clerk (Mr G. A. Lind) said today.

Feeling was now running high in the town and residents were determined to fight the proposals, he said. “Many think if we kick up enough fuss the Government won’t put either of these schemes through,” Mr Lind said. One proposal is for a high dam at Clyde flooding the Cromwell Gorge and a huge dam at Lowburn which would back water up to Lake Wanaka. Cromwell would sit between two lakes. The second plan calls for a low dam at Clyde and a high structure below the Cromwell township which would flood the town and all flat land to Wanaka. The proposals have been outlined by a Government interdepartmental committee set up to investigate the powei development of the Clutha River. Orchardist’s View One orchardist with a property just north of Cromwell, Mr S. L. Hamilton, said either

of the proposals would mean absolute ruin for fruitgrowers in the area. “We will not let the Government get its way without a fair amount of trouble,” he said. No-one could expect the people of Central Otago to stand for the flooding of Cromwell or interference with the levels of Lake Wanaka or the sacrifice of valuable orchards or farmlands, said Mr J. H. George, M.P. for Central Otago, in Wellington tonight.

He emphasised that the proposals were only in the investigatory stages and no decision on either had been made

Mr George said, any develop ment should be carried out so that it caused the least pos-

sible damage to the interests of the people. “Unrealistic” The chairman of the Otago Development Council (Mr T. K. S. Sidey) said from many points of view the scheme to flood the entire Cromwell Gorge and practically all the flat land in the Tarras and Upper Clutha areas was completely unrealistic.

Economic effects of the announcement are already being felt. One Cromwell builder has lost a firm order for a new home from a Dunedin couple planning retirement. Several orchardists consider their properties have fallen in value overnight and would now be impossible to sell.