Water project cost doubles

BY ROBYN HOLMES

NEARLY $17 million in contracts have been awarded to bring five water supply schemes that supply the communities of Ravenshoe, Bellview, Cassowary and Millstream North and South into one scheme to improve water quality being delivered to homes.

The project originally included the design and construction of a water treatment plant at the Ravenshoe reservoir site, construction of a new water main and booster pump station from Ravenshoe to Bellview and Cassowary, and construction of a new water main from Ravenshoe to Millstream North and South.

But the cost of the project is much more than the $9 million council had budgeted, which has forced the deferral of the pipeline to Bellview and Cassowary.

Mayor Rod Marti said the project had “pretty much doubled in cost” since the council determined a budget for the project.

“This has been a real challenge given the changing cost of delivering these projects – we budgeted quite a lot of money for this project a few years ago and we were all on track but it has pretty much doubled in price,” he said.

“So, we have a very significant spend in Ravenshoe to get that water up to speed and it’s taken a lot of time and resources from officers.”

Currently, water supplies from the five run-ofriver schemes are considered high-risk with the only treatment process in place being chlorination.