station uncertain

Press, 10 February 1988, Page 2

station uncertain

PA Wellington A $5O million geothermal power station may be scrapped if the Treaty of Waitangi (State-Owned Enterprise) Bill is passed without amendment, a Parliamentary select committee was told yesterday. The committee is studying the bill, which safeguards the interests of Maori claimants to land which is being transferred from the Crown to Stateowned enterprises. The power station would be built by Tauhara Geothermal Development, Ltd, a joint-venture company, on land owned by Landcorp but subject to a claim of the Ngai Tahu tribe. It would be neither wise nor safe for the company to go ahead with the project if the bill were passed unchanged, said Mr Gordon Wong for the com-

pany. Present provisions in the bill did not give the purchaser of disputed land from a State-owned enterprise any right to be heard at the tribunal, he said. Neither would the tribunal be obliged to take into account any development which occurred after the land was sold to a third party, the company’s submission said. If the land were returned to the Ngai Tahu, the Government would be obliged to compensate the company but this would not cover the cost of the power station, Mr Wong said. It would be neither practicable nor fair for the land to be returned to former Maori owners if substantial capital works had been built. The tribunal should

have the power to award compensation instead of returning land.

Also wanted was the right to appeal the tribunal’s decision and a final date by which time all claims appeals must be lodged. Changes to the bill would not guarantee the future of the power station proposal but would give the company more confidence, Mr Wong said. The proposed 25 megawatt geothermal station is planned for the Tauhara geothermal area. It is a joint venture between Power Supply Corporation, a subsidiary of Fletcher Challenge, the Gas and Geothermal Trading Group, which is a division of the Ministry of Engergy, and the Taupo Municipal Electricity Department.