Over time we have been asked a number of questions which we thought the answers might be of interest to a wider audience.
The Waimea Community Dam procurement process comprised a two-stage tender process;
Stage One:
27 March 2017: A Statement of Interest and Ability (SIA) was placed on TenderLink for all interested contractors. This required tenderers to submit proposals detailing their capacity and capability to undertake the construction of the dam. Seven tenders were received and these were evaluated in accordance with predetermined criteria and shortlisted to three contractors.
Stage Two:
29 September 2017: A Request for Proposal (RFP) was sent to the three pre-qualified contractors to submit a proposal comprising details on the non-price attributes and a priced schedule. The priced schedule in the RFP did not reflect the full scope of the physical works. It only focused on scheduled items that were considered unlikely to change significantly in nature during the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phase. It also included profit margins, indicative hours and hourly rates for labour, plant and equipment. The prices tendered and the price estimate were used in the evaluation to select a preferred tendered and then the rates used in the subsequent ECI process. The price schedule did not reflect the total cost of the project. The three Proposals received were each evaluated in accordance with predetermined criteria to identify a preferred tenderer. A probity auditor was present during the evaluation process.
The successful tenderer was engaged in November 2017 to begin the Early Contractor Involvement process.
Security of water supply, particularly over the summer period with peak water demands, is essential for the local economy. A third of all employment in the Tasman District is in the primary industries and manufacturing sectors. 50% of Council’s urban water supply for the areas is used by businesses. These businesses employ people, who create a demand for further services, which in turn creates more employment. It's a positive cycle.
All components of Nelson-Tasman regional gross domestic product would contract through a lack of secure water supply. Under a 20% water allocation cut, investment and exports would be smaller by $1.1 million and $18.2 million, respectively.
The outer areas of the district will not be immune to these cuts and they would be impacted by any reduction in the capacity of businesses they are reliant on to deliver their local services and export thier products, for example, the capacity of the Port and Airport to send or receive goods off-shore.
A lack of a secure water supply would impact local economic returns resulting in a reduction in the ability of the Waimea and surrounding areas to afford their rates payments. This would result in larger increases in other areas within the district, due to councils district-wide funding of activities.
Estimated Total Cost of Dam $158.4 million
Tasman District Council Share Urban (21%) $33.3m funded by water rates, charges and NCC contribution.
Tasman District Council Share Environmental, Economic and Community Benefits (30%) $47.5m funded by targeted rates, CIIL Loans, Enterprise Income
Waimea Irrigators Limited (49%) $77.6m for irrigator capacity.
This information is in the ‘Reservoir and Dam Site Geology’ Section (3.4) from the Geotechnical Investigations Report of Phase 2:
Tonkin & Taylor - Geotechnical Investigations Report - December 2009.pdf (pdf 6.5 MB)
There are a series of related contracts that have the practical effect of requiring the Council to complete the dam: Joint Venture Build Contract -> Project Deed & Shareholders’ Agreement -> Council. That is why we refer to Council being “contractually” required to do this.
The dam is being built and will be operated by Waimea Water Ltd (WWL) which is a Council Controlled Organisation. Council is one of the two shareholders, Waimea Irrigators Ltd is the other shareholder.
Council not finishing the dam would constitute defaulting under some agreements, and in that scenario, Council would have to pay costs associated with default and/or termination, which is likely to be greater than the cost of finishing the dam. All agreements would be impacted, including:
Of the land surrounding ther reservoir, 9.9 hectares of Mt Richmond Forest Park is managed by the Department of Conservation (DoC) which includes an easement granted to the Tasman District Council. The rest of the surrounding land is owned by five different parties including three individuals, iwi authority Ngāti Koata Trust and the Tasman Pine Forests Ltd.
There are no plans for public access currently or in the immediate future, but it is part of the resource consent that public access could be an option. Council will, in the future, look to find a way of creating public access, however, this will only be possible if it can be achieved safely.
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