THE state government is committed to raising the walls of the Warragamba Dam by 14-metres according to Member for Hawkesbury and Finance, Services and Property Minister Dominic Perrottet.
The walls will be raised to prevent flooding of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment area, including the Hawkesbury River, which can occur when massive amounts of rain force water to overflow over the dam walls.
The government has announced it will allocate $58 million for preliminary studies and other work to prepare for raising the walls in the budget, to be announced on Tuesday, June 21.
The government will create a business case as part of the preliminary work.
The official media release states final approval of the project, estimated to cost $690 million, will rest on the outcome of the business case, however, Mr Perrottet said the government would raise the walls.
“The government's intention is to do this. It is clearly our intention to proceed,” Mr Perrottet told the Gazette.
“When you're talking of a project of such magnitude, you go through the process of a business case and detailed design work.”
Mr Perrottet said construction would start shortly after the business case was finalised.
“My understanding is construction would start in 2019. Construction would take between three to fours years, and it would commence on the finalisation of the business case,’ he said.
Mr Perrottet said he believed it was the biggest infrastructure project ever to be built which directly benefited the Hawkesbury.
“This project goes back years. Bob Carr said he was going to do something about it and nothing ever happened,” he said.
“The reality is if there is a significant flood event, Hawkesbury families are at risk and this investment will protect them.”
