Member for Wollondilly this week has asked the Premier for NSW, Chris Minns to commit to scrapping any plans to raise the Warragamba Dam Wall.
In Parliament, Judy Hanan MP asked the Premier “given that the damaging and short-sighted plans to raise the Warragamba Dam Wall have been shelved, will you today rule out raising the Dam Wall? Premier, will you also confirm there are no plans to raise the Wall and will you outline the measures your Government will take to mitigate the risk of future Governments wanting to damage my electorate for the benefit of some land developers downstream”
Premier Minns responded, “We are being honest about our intentions in relation to this wall. We will not build it,”
Outlining the cost of the Wall Premier Minns stated, “the original cost of raising the Warragamba Dam wall was estimated to be $690 million when it was first proposed by former Premier Mike Baird. The estimated cost today is $2 billion for construction and biodiversity offsets of an additional $1 billion.”
On the environmental cost Premier Minns stated, “would inundate 4,700 hectares of the World Heritage protected Blue Mountains National Park, and 1,200 Aboriginal sites and artefacts would be inundated as a result of this project.”
Welcoming the commitment Judy Hannan MP said “I thank the Premier for the commitment and certainty finally that has been delivered. The people of Warragamba, Silverdale, Wollondilly and the Tharawal First Nations people will no doubt remember this commitment and support.”
Full speech video available: https://youtu.be/iTBFluTGP_Y
Full hansard link: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1323879322-131311/HANSARD-1323879322-131310
Media: [email protected] or Benn Banasik 0434 832 636