Sydney’s desalination plant turned off but not the costs

The consequences of Labor’s panicked decision to build the desalination plant in 2006 have been locked in for the next 50 years by the O’Farrell government’s long-term lease, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

“Sydney desalination plant to switch off’“, ABC Online, 26 June 2012

“Desal plant closure not waste: NSW govt“, Herald Sun, 26 June 2012

“Desal plant to close down“, St George Sutherland Leader, 29 June 2012

Dr Kaye said: “When they were in opposition, the Coalition joined the Greens in savaging the Iemma government for building an unnecessary plant. Now they are in government they have milked the cash cow for $2.3 billion, leaving Sydney households to pay for Labor’s mistake until at least 2062.

“The plant will not be needed for the next three years. It could sit idle for more than a decade. In the meantime, households across Sydney will be forced to fund the profits of a multinational corporation that supplies no water.

“At least half of the approximately $190 million annual payments to the private owner could have been avoided if the plant were shut down and the membranes sold off until there is a genuine drought. This opportunity for massive savings has been squandered by the O’Farrell government’s grab for cash.

“Sydney, Blue Mountains and Illawarra households will be forking out $190 million a year to keep online a plant that is completely unnecessary.  The private owners are doing well out of Labor’s mistake and the Coalition’s sell-off, but water bills are being unnecessarily inflated,” Dr Kaye said.

For more information: John Kaye 0407 195 455