Ruataniwha Water Storage Project Governance Decided

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has established two groups to provide oversight and guidance to the Council on the Ruataniwha Plains water storage project as it is developed over the next two years.
“Given the complexity and scale of this project the Council has decided to establish these groups and involve people both with experience and active roles in the community and wider skills and experience in infrastructure, agribusiness and export markets,” said Andrew Newman, Chief Executive of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
In December 2009 the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, with the support of MAF, decided to move ahead on a full feasibility study of potential water storage for Ruataniwha Basin.
The aim of the project is to assess the market, economic and engineering feasibility of expanding the irrigable area in the basin, to improve water security for irrigators, and to assess options for augmenting low flows in the rivers in the summer months. A fundamental aspect of the feasibility study will be to assess and proactively manage land use intensification and its potential impacts on fresh water quality. The outcome of this phase will validate whether water storage is, or is not, feasible.
The two groups being set up are -
A Stakeholder Liaison Group which will provide guidance to the Council on the fit of the project within a community context, by assessing social, cultural water use efficiency and environmental issues, opportunities and solutions.
A Project Leadership Group which will provide oversight and guidance to the Regional Council’s project management team and will, in particular, focus on the critical market, economic and financial issues for the project;
Appointments to the Stakeholder Liaison Group are being worked on at the moment.
“We anticipate that the composition of the group will closely mirror that of a liaison group the Council used for advice on wider Tukituki river issues, with some additions,” said Chairman Alan Dick.
It is likely to include a landowner potentially affected by water storage; statutory authorities with relevant environmental and recreational accountabilities including Fish and Game and DOC have be agreed to be involved; a representative from the Tamatea Taiwhenua will be sought, representatives of advocacy groups such as Forest and Bird will be approached as will be water user groups.
“Many of these groups have already been involved in the guiding the original conceptual study on water storage.
In the meantime, the Council has appointed Mrs Debbie Hewitt of Central Hawke’s Bay as Chairman of the Stakeholder Liaison group. Debbie is currently a grower elected director of Horticulture New Zealand and has wide experience in the horticulture, agriculture and viticulture through her family business.
The Council has taken guidance from MAF, the Council’s Maori Committee Chairman, and the Ruataniwha water user group in appointing the following people to the Project Leadership Group.
· Sam Robinson has been appointed the Chairman. Sam is a Central Hawke’s Bay farmer, and current Chairman of AgResearch. He is a former member of the Port of Napier Board (PONL) and served on the Regional Council at its inception in 1989 and the Hawke’s Bay Catchment Board prior to that. Sam’s links with the community and central government, his agribusiness background and his knowledge of the regional council role are of significant value to this project.

· Dr Roger Maaka has been appointed Iwi Advisor. Dr Maaka is currently the Director of Te Manga Maori at the Eastern Institute of Technology and previously held professorships at the Universities of Saskatchewan in Canada and the University of Canterbury. Dr Maaka of Ngati Kahungunu lineage is from the Tamatea/Central Hawke’s Bay area. Grounding the project in a tangata whenua context is critical, given Maori’s longstanding relationship to fresh water.

· Gordon Price and Richard Dakin have been nominated by the Ruataniwha Water User group. Both of these people bring the perspective of Central Hawke’s Bay landowners and irrigators to the project and will be able to assess the market and economic factors.

· Jim Scotland is currently chair of the Port on Napier Ltd Board, a member of the Hawke’s Bay Airport Board, Director of the Plant and Food Crown Research Institute and Director of Seeka Kiwi Fruit Industries Ltd. He has been nominated by MAF to help ensure that the project is reviewed from a food processing, export and market perspective.

· Andrew Bayly, a partner in Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Napier practice, has been appointed to provide a strong financial perspective on the project. Should the project move beyond the feasibility phase to consents and construction, creating a robust investment model and raising capital will be important; however those questions need to be addressed early in the project, not at the end of it. Andrew’s input will help with this assessment.

Three Regional Councillors have also been appointed:
· Tim Gilbertson who represents the Central Hawke’s Bay constituency;

· Ewan MacGregor of Hastings Constituency; and

· Fenton Wilson of the Wairoa constituency.

All three Councillors have rural experience, and their appointment demonstrates that although the project is located in Central Hawke’s Bay, the Regional Council views it as having region-wide significance.
The Regional Council will manage the project through their Executive Management team including the Chief Executive, Andrew Newman, and recently appointed Water Initiatives Group Manager, Bruce Corbett.
Bruce is a fresh water management expert with more than 30 years government and commercial sector experience in major water projects in South Africa. He has experience in developing and implementing water strategies, including infrastructure and water allocation across a number of South African provinces.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s Executive will be supported by internal Council staff capacity in water management, engineering, hydrology and science, as well as external experts in geological engineering, cultural and social impact assessment, cost benefit analysis and environmental impact assessment.