Waimea Weekly Locally Owned and Operated
Wednesday 29 June 2022
Waimea Dam budget blows again The cost of the Waimea Community Dam has once again blown out, this time by another $10 million, with completion now expected to be 16 months behind schedule. Tasman District Council heard last week that the expected cost is now $195 million - up from the $185 million expectation in Feb-
ruary, with completion now looking to be February 2023. Council heard an update from Waimea Water Ltd chief executive Mike Scott on how the project is progressing at its full council meeting on Thursday. Mike says Covid-19 continues to cause delays across the entire supply chain and told councillors
that the contractor had lost more than 7000 worker hours on the project due to the pandemic. Mike says while most materials are now in Brightwater there are still 14 tonnes of valves and fittings in Germany that need to be freighted. “They were due to be delivered in January, here we are in June, and
they are still in Germany.” When funding was initially approved, the dam’s completion date was expected to be October 2021 with the dam coming into full commission from January 2022. In December 2021 these dates were delayed to between July and September 2022 and between
January to March respectively. Completion of the dam and closure of the reservoir is now forecast to be in February 2023, seven months later than expected earlier this year, and 16 months later than the original plan. The subsequent mechanical and
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Matariki comes to Sundial Square Matariki arrived in Richmond in-style last Thursday with hundreds of people packing Sundial Square for the very first Matariki Celebration event. Although the first Matariki public holiday was on Friday, Richmond got the jump on the rest of the region with a celebration on Thursday night which saw hundreds take in the entertainment and food on offer. The event was organised by Tasman District Council in conjunction with Richmond Unlimited.
Performers ranged from magicians to the Richmond School choir and a waiata group. Richmond Unlimited’s Sheena Murtagh says after two years without events it was nice to see so many people come out to celebrate. “We were really happy with the turnout, and we got very lucky with the weather. It was generally a great community event.” She says the celebration is likely to be back next year.
Brooke Helliwell, 8, of Brightwater School, and Kurtis Helliwell, 11, of Waimea Intermediate, at Sundial Square for the Matariki Celebration on Thursday night. Photo: Andrew Board.
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