SEQ - water charges to soar ...
Some TV viewers are probably still scratching their heads at Toowoomba's outgoing mayor's apparent glee on TV last night predicting that Toowoomba would pay the highest price for water.
As the outgoing Mayor, you would think that she would be concerned about the prospect of higher water charges.
Seems not.
She just wants to tell anyone who'll listen that the NO vote last year will mean that water costs in Toowoomba will go through the roof.
Pity it's more scaremongering from her. Something that Toowoomba residents are used to and now expect every time her face appears on TV. You'd think she's do the responsible thing for once in her mayoral career and accept the fact she has quit, pack up and go. But no, she has to try and have the last word on her failed recycled water plant. Bitter to the very end - when she only has herself to blame.
Needless to say, when she is long gone, Toowoomba still won't have run out of water.
Excerpt from the Courier Mail:
Water charges to soar
24 July 2007
Southeast Queenslanders could soon be paying some of the highest water charges in the world, according to research by economic consultants.
The research showed Brisbane prices would soar past those in some of the world's biggest cities – including Amsterdam, London and Paris.
Brisbane residents currently pay the seventh-highest water charges in the world, according to data released yesterday by natural resources consultants Marsden Jacob.
However a report by the consulting firm shown recently to a private investor's lunch at stockbroker ABN Amro Morgans found water costs in Brisbane would surge past those in most of the world's big cities within five years.
Marsden Jacob's Dr Tony Hand said yesterday his team completed an international price comparison to 2012 which showed Brisbane ahead of even Tokyo, Zurich and Berlin, which consume large volumes of water in manufacturing.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman has previously admitted water charges could double because the city would be forced to pass on the cost of the State Government's drought-proofing measures.
They include the Traveston Dam, the Tugun desalination plant and a water pipeline grid connecting southeast Queensland's major water reservoirs and dams.
Liberal leader Dr Bruce Flegg said both families and business would be hit by the huge price hike.
"It (the research) showed Brisbane water charges are expected to soar by 100 percent to $3.50/kL by 2012-13," Dr Flegg said. "This will be well beyond the next highest tariff of Melbourne at $2.30/kL and Sydney at $2.03/kL.
"The combined effects of higher water prices and higher charges for electricity will influence factors such as industry location and development." Dr Flegg blamed the sudden price rise on the Beattie Government's "massive under-investment" in water storage over the past 10 to 15 years.
"This combined with the fact the Government has no drought response plans prepared will push prices for water and electricity through the roof," he said.
...
See - What will water cost in 5 years?
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 7:01 AM
1 Comments:
Excerpt from the Courier Mail:
Bligh denies water price surge
24 July 2007
A report claiming south-east Queenslanders will soon be paying some of the highest water charges in the world is based on outdated figures, the state government says.
The report by natural resources consultants Marsden Jacob, released at a private investors' lunch for stockbroker ABN Amro Morgans, said water prices in Brisbane would soar by 100 per cent to $3.50 a kilolitre by 2012-13.
The government today said the figure was incorrect, assuring south-east Queenslanders they would not pay more for water than some of the world's biggest cities, such as Tokyo, Zurich and Berlin.
"The ABN Amro report was using outdated information based on an early report from the Queensland Water Commission," Deputy Premier Anna Bligh said.
"The Queensland government has since made a number of commitments that means we won't see water in 2012 at $3.50 a kilolitre.
"It'll be much closer to about $2.40, $2.45. The ABN Amro data is substantially out of date and wrong."
Ms Bligh said Queensland would be closer to the "middle of the pack" in water pricing in terms of all the Australian states.
She said she had written to ABN Amro to advise them of the inaccuracies in the report.
Concerns about water pricing came as the state opposition accused the government of masking the extent of the south-east's water crisis, claiming it "secretly" called on the private sector to supply water contingency measures.
Liberal leader Bruce Flegg said he had found a tender from the government on a private website which calls for help delivering emergency water supplies "for the medium to long-term".
"This government has been telling Queenslanders that water supply is secure, that there is no chance whatsoever of running out and yet they're calling for tenders for contingency measures out of the private sector," he said.
"It is obvious by the fact the government had to cover this up that things are worse than they have told the people of Queensland."
Premier Peter Beattie said the call for private tenders was "hardly secret", and came after people began proposing ideas following first talk of the government's $9 billion water grid.
"A number of people had put in bids for mobile desalination units, all sorts of ideas, and what we decided to do was to actually go out and seek expressions of interest," Mr Beattie said.
Proposals have included towing water from New Zealand to Queensland and mobile desalination plants.
Thirty expressions of interest have been lodged so far.
Meanwhile, a 7.3km pipeline connecting the Bundamba Advanced Water Treatment Plant with Swanbank Power Station near Ipswich, west of Brisbane, has been completed.
At its peak, the pipeline will deliver up to 20 million litres of recycled water a day to the the power station.
"That's the equivalent of drinking water for more than 140,000 people under level five restrictions targets, enough for a city the size of Ipswich," Mr Beattie said.
5:48 PM, July 24, 2007
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