Fears over workforce unwarranted—Mr Tizard

Press, 20 February 1986, Page 20

Fears over workforce unwarranted—Mr Tizard

By OLIVER RIDDELL in Wellington Fears for the future of the workforce at Clyde and Luggate on the Clutha River as a result of the decision to bum off more Maui gas for electricity have been described by the Minister of Energy, Mr Tizard, as unwarranted.

He said the 30 to 40 petajoules of gas just allocated for electricity generation was “a slight increase.” It would allow more flexibility in the Government’s plans to meet anticipated power demand and take pressure off some projects now being

developed, such as mines. Mr Tizard said he was aware of concern by the Clyde dam workforce whose members were expecting to build the Luggate dam, but their work programme was still assured. The Opposition spokesman on energy, Mr Tony Friedlander, said that as a result of the Minister’s decision the coal industry would be denied the chance to show its potential, geothermal fields would lie untapped, and the Luggate dam would be delayed indefinitely.

Mr Tizard said there had already been some delays on the Clyde dam,

although the power house was well advanced. Some reordering of starting dates might be necessary for Luggate, but a lot of work still had to be done before physical construction could be done.

A good deal of energy programme modification was likely to result from the Maui decision, but almost all of this would be in the North Island.

Finishing the Clyde scheme and moving to Luggate in the bottom of the South Island were among the projects least likely to be affected by developments in the North Island, Mr Tizard said.