‘Basic Error’ On Manapouri

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32361, 29 July 1970, Page 32

‘Basic Error’ On Manapouri

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 28.

The basic error made by the Government had been in negotiating an agreement relating only to certain p«nects of what work was to be done, Mr I. G. B. Wilson, a consulting engineer supporting the New Zealand Travel and Holidays Association, said in evidence before the Lake Manapouri Commission of Inquiry today.

These were how the cost of the power was to be determined and what quantity of continuous power would be supplied as well as some as yet unknown excess power. The correct procedure would have been to negotiate the maximum price for power in competition with power prices in other parts of the world he said. The cost of the lake raising did not include the value of the land submerged, or the recreational value. Neither had the cost of treating Lake Te Anau been included. Without all costs being considered, the 222 gigawatts a year from raising the lake would cost 0.3 c a unit If sold to Comalco at this figure or less, then the investment capital in lake raising was uneconomic. (A gigawatt is 1,000,000 kilowatt hours). He submitted that the agreement with Comalco was wrongly conceived and should have related only to power, cost, and time. The only solution that would not put Comalco at a disadvantage would be to reduce the amount of power it was entitled to under the present agreement and at what cost, and change the agree-

ment to the simple terms of amount of power and cost for some defined period of time.

It seemed that from the engineering point of view a value must be placed on the social and recreational value of the lake. To leave these values out of the calculations would not give the correct economic assessment of the power resources. Mr Wilson said he opposed the raising of Lake Manapouri because he did not think the Government had proved an economic reason for such an action.