Dear Sir/Madam

The Tasmanian Government has signalled its intention to introduce legislation permitting construction of a dam on the Meander River, despite a contrary ruling by its Resource and Planning Appeal Tribunal.

WWF Australia has prepared the attached study to determine whether the proposed dam will meet Tasmania’s COAG obligations under the agreed Water Reform Framework.

Based on information provided in the Consultant’s reports commissioned by the dam proponents, WWF Australia concludes that at the volume of water to be supplied by the dam, the price of water is too low to recover costs. Therefore, COAG’s requirement to achieve full cost recovery under clause 3(a) (i. ) will not be achieved. In addition that the dam is not a commercially viable enterprise and will not meet Tasmania’s COAG obligations, requiring that new infrastructure projects be shown to be "Economically viable" (clause 3(d) (iii)).

Based on the attached study and work on the environmental impact of the dam prepared by the Tasmanian Conservation Trust and others, WWF considers that construction the dam should not proceed.

Sincerely

Tony Trujillo
Economic Policy Officer-MDB

T: +61 2 8202 1245

See the report here

World Wide Fund For Nature Australia ACN 001 594 074

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