TasWater’s five year mega spend on critical sewage upgrades
TasWater will take on nearly $2 billion of debt to fund a catch-up program of critical infrastructure fixes following “decades of underinvestment” across the state, parliament has heard.
Tasmania
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TasWater will take on nearly $2 billion of debt over the next five years to fund a catch-up program of critical infrastructure fixes following “decades of underinvestment” across the state, the Tasmanian parliament has heard.
Chief executive George Theo also told the Legislative Council’s government businesses scrutiny committee that TasWater planned a $10 million roll-out of digital water meters next year, and would finally demolish the Macquarie Point waste-treatment plant in late 2026.
Mr Theo said that while TasWater had spent $269 million on water and sewage infrastructure in the last financial year alone, it had approached Tasmania’s central borrowing authority, TasCorp, to help fund a $1.9 billion program of capital refurbishments that will last until the end of the decade.
“The investment that needs to be made over the next five years is basically responding to what has been decades of underinvestment in water and sewage across the state,” Mr Theo said.
“It is what it is, and we are simply responding to the situation we face.
“I’d just like to remind the committee it wasn’t until 2018 - just six years ago - that the last of the permanent boiled water ‘do not consume’ notices were removed.
“We need to make sure we maintain those treatment plants so we don’t find ourselves in a similar position in the future.”
TasWater project delivery general manager, Tony Willmott, told the committee that construction of a new sewage treatment plant for Selfs Point had begun two months ago, with work at the Macquarie Point facility it is replacing also well underway.
Mr Willmott said a crane was already in place at the site to facilitate construction, with drilling underway to secure the foundations for a new pump station.
“We’ve planned to be completed treating at Mac Point by the end of 2026, so we’re seeing that the Selfs Point treatment plan will be finished around mid 2026, when we will start to cut over the flows from Mac Point then.
“Then it’s just the demolition of Mac Point, which won’t take very long.”
Mr Theo was also quizzed on the gender pay gap within the company’s workforce, which was reported as currently being 12 per cent, compared to a national average of 21 per cent.
The chief executive said while the overall company figure was driven by the having a large proportion of males working in operational roles with access to penalty rates, women were paid more than men at the senior leadership level.
“It’s predominantly a male workforce,” Mr Theo said.
“So what are we doing about it? It starts with the way we place ads and opening up the organisation to 50 per cent of the workforce that would not otherwise look at a career in these areas.
“We’ve started that process, and I’m pleased to say that we have a number of women that have actually joined our field operations, and we are actively looking to grow that.
“But we’re always going to do it on merit, and I think that’s really important.”
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Originally published as TasWater’s five year mega spend on critical sewage upgrades
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