Labor confirms it’ll ditch Wyangala Dam wall raising project saying it “will not stop flooding”
Labor has confirmed it will drop plans to raise the wall of Wyangala Dam because they don’t believe it will stop flooding, as central west NSW continues to be battered by destructive wet weather.
NSW
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Labor has confirmed it will drop plans to raise the wall of Wyangala Dam because they don’t believe it will stop flooding, as central west NSW continues to be battered by destructive wet weather.
“We’re not committing to Wyangala Dam wall’s increase because we’re not convinced it will solve the problem but that doesn’t mean you don’t do anything,” Labor leader Chris Minns said.
“We believe that it’s incumbent upon the political leadership of this state to look at the problems and make meaningful changes rather than issuing media releases for projects that won’t go ahead.”
Opposition spokeswoman for water Rose Jackson said she would instead back flood mitigation measures recommended by the SES, saying the dam wall raising “will not stop flooding in the central west of NSW.”
“There are over 40 recommendations that they’ve made about things that can be done quite quickly, practically on the ground to assist those communities — things like modifications to the Newell Highway, things like modifications to rail infrastructure out there,” she said.
The Coalition pledged three years ago to raise the wall of the dam by 10 metres.
But almost exactly a year after Premier Dominic Perrottet stood in Forbes amid flooding in 2021 and stated it was a “complex” project “where the due diligence needs to be completed”, the final business case for the work which would more than double the capacity of the dam remains unfinished.
The dam spilt 230,000 megalitres of water into the Lachlan River on Monday, with that cut by two-thirds on Tuesday as inflows slowed over the day.
Water Minister Kevin Anderson said the government would now include “flood mitigation” measures in the final study.
“While Labor walks away from the project, the NSW Government will ensure all of these measures are in the final business case, giving certainty to Central West communities.”
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