Large possibilities from sounds canal

Press, 7 August 1976, Page 10

Large possibilities from sounds canal

Staff reporter Blenheim Port development proposals now under consideration by the Marlborough Harbour Board could have far-reaching effects for the whole Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast region if they are realised. Of the proposals, which were put before the board at its last monthly meeting, the firmest proposition is the development of Shakespeare Bay as a deep water port. Other possibilities include a canal linking Pelorus and Queen Charlotte Sounds, and a railway line down the Wairau Valley. The canal would go across a five-kilometre stretch of land between the Mahikapawa Arm on the Pelorus side and the Grove Arm of the Queen Charlotte Sound. It could be used by barges carrying logs from isolated forests in the western Sounds to the proposed port at Shakespeare Bay.

It would revolutionise water-borne transport in the area, with benefits not only to the forestry industry, but also to farmers in the transportation of stock and to the tourist industry, and small craft generally. However, the proposals are still only a line on the map. Before any conclusions can be reached a tremendous amount of work has to be done.

Surveys and studies of the area must be undertaken. Discussions will also have to be held between the Harbour Board, the Marlborough Catchment Board, and the Marlborough County Council. No estimate has yet been made of the amount of material that would have to be shifted in building a canal. However, it appears to be surprisingly little, as the proposed route follows lowlying land as far as possible. Environmental consid-erat-ons will have to be safeguarded, and suitable sites would have to be found for disposing of excavated material. Any canal between the two sounds would require a lock gate arrangement to contain water flow, as the tidal range in the Pelorus area is far greater than that in Picton. Easy boat access between the two sounds has been a dream for many years. There have been suggestions in the past that a cut could be made from Onahau Bay to the Kenepuru. A tunnel was also proposed at one time. However, the proposal now before the board seems to be a far easier proposition. For some time the board has been actively promoting a deep water port at Shakespeare Bay as the future export port for the proposed Nelson-Marlborough-West Coat pulp mill being studied by the Government. In conjunction with this, the board has been worried about the effect a major forestry project would have on roading in the area of the Sounds — a worry shared by the County Council. A fall-off in planting in the area has been noticed, which could be due to the fact that it is not known how the logs can be economically transported in the future. The Harbour Board recently entered discussions with an internationally based company with a view to investigating the movement of logs in the harbour district by barge — which is where the proposed canal comes in.

Farmers along the route of the proposed canal have given assurances of co-operation in further investigations, and the board has received several suggestions from them. In undertaking further study, the board hopes to make a major contribution towards the future of forestry interests in the sounds, as well as assisting the authorities concerned with the provision and maintenance of road-

ing, and the Government agencies studying the feasibility of a pulp mill. In his maiden speech to Parliament, the Member of Parliament for Marlborough, Mr Edward Latter, claimed it was urgent that someone take the initiative and study the question of timber transport, and provide some proposals The National Roads Board is concerned at damage and likely future damage to roading caused by log transport vehicles. The Harbour Board chairman, Mr H. J. Stace, said the board had for some time been working to find possible solutions to the problem. Dev?lopment for Shakespeare Bay has already been programmed. The board has bought a large area of land at the head of the bay to back up the future port, and a short rail tunnel from Picton is a likely possibility.

There are other proposals before the board, but these are to be kept confidential for the meantime. A railway line down the Wairau Valley is not altogether an impossibility in the light of the build up in forestry in the NelsonMarlborough area. Wth the build up, wider consideration is being given to the end use of the logs, and thoughts are turning more toward processing.

Several plans for pulp mills, drawn up by both the Slate and the private sector, and Spring Grove near Nelson, and Kawatiri, about 120 km from Blenheim, are favoured sites. Kawatiri once had a railway under construction, the remains of which are still to be seen. It was once in the reckoning for the railway route between Blenheim and Nelson. However, the difficulty of the terrain between Kawatiri and Nelson could make the straight run down the Wairau Valley a more favourable alternative.

It is also believed that New Zealand Railways have made a preliminary survev of the Wairau Valley route, and the Crown owns a chain-wide strip >f land down the Wairau Valley Highway from Erina to Birch Hill, sometimes known as the "railway reserve.” However, the Harbour Boa'd itself is keeping under wraps information about schemes to transport pulping logs from Picton to a future pulp mill. But if the canal goes ahead, large quantities of logs could be unloaded at Shakespeare Bay. Harbour Board spokesmen and forestry interests are reluctant to give deta f ls of plans for mill sites, or the transport of logs for processing. The Nelson Harbour Board also has plans for port developments, but its chairman, Mr G. P. Dixon, believes the answer to the greater development of the Marlborough-Nelson West Coast areas will come out of the Government’s scheme, which has yet to be announced. Mr Dixon said Nelson had a claim for a port project, as it already had space available to handle the expected output from H. Btigent’s proposed pulp mill at Spring Grove, and the island harbour planned for Nelson Haven would be able to handle future regional developments. But much depended on factors which had not yet been announced by the Government, Mr Dixon said. The most important of these was whether the continuing area of pine trees would be available to sustain the output from a pul? mill of the size envisaged. A spokesman for the Railways Department said a preliminary study indicated a railway from Kawatiri to Blenheim would be feasible, but the department had no intention yet of making a full