Clutha report “shows Manapouri blunder”

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32879, 30 March 1972, Page 17

Clutha report “shows Manapouri blunder”

The Government should put aside for all time any thought of raising the level of Lake Manapouri, and get on with producing the power as shown from the Clutha River at the same cost from one or more of the proposed schemes, says Mr R. C. Nelson, president of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, commenting on the Clutha River power resources report. “The Clutha River Resources report is an interesting and informative document,” says Mr Nelson. “The society cannot at this stage assess the detailed environmental matters involved as these will require study locally, but the report highlights what could almost be regarded now as the Manapouri blunder. “The report bears out what this society has believed all through the Manapouri dispute. Comalco and the Ministry of Works told the Com-

mission of Inquiry that Manapouri had to be raised because nowhere else could the required extra 150 megawatts of power be obtained at the low cost of .30 cents a unit, the cost which the commission in its report accepted as the cost of the extra power from raising the lake.

“The society suspected this power could be produced elsewhere and held the opinion that time would prove the engineers wrong. This report appears to confirm our opinion. “From the report we gather there can be produced as near to Comalco as Manapouri, from the Clutha River, a possible 1710 megawatts—not just 150—at the same average cost as the incremental power from raising Lake Manapouri—.3o cents a unit In view of this immediate steps should be taken to cancel the wide base Mararoa dam thus saving the country millions of dollars of unnecessary expenditure.”