Dam project meeting at EIT marae

The Ruataniwha Dam proposed site in Central Hawke's Bay.

A public meeting on the Ruataniwha dam project, to be held in Taradale on Thursday, is aimed at "increasing local understanding" of the planned water storage organisers say.

The meeting, to be held at the EIT marae from 6pm, has been organised by Transparent Hawke's Bay and the lobby group says it is disappointed that the man driving the Ruataniwha project, Andrew Newman, has declined to attend.

Mr Newman, chief executive of Hawke's Bay Regional Investment Company which is promoting the scheme, has told the group he does not want to get involved in a "detailed discussion" on pending decisions on environmental consenting issues related to the project ahead of a final decision from the board of inquiry that has been considering the issues.

But Mr Newman said he would be happy to consider attending a meeting after the board releases its final decision.

Hawke's Bay Regional Investment Company (HBRIC) is the investment arm of Hawke's Bay Regional Council which has conditionally agreed to invest up to $80 million of ratepayers' money into the $275 million Ruataniwha scheme, planned for Central Hawke's Bay.

In an email to regional councillors, Transparent Hawke's Bay chairwoman Megan Rose said the aim of the meeting was to "provide the public with an overview of all sides of the discussion and to better enable those that need to make important decisions regarding the dam to do so".

Regional council chairman Fenton Wilson has declined the invitation because he will be in Wairoa on Thursday.

However the council's chief executive, Liz Lambert, and its resource management group manager, Iain Maxwell, have said they will attend.

Also attending will be Central Hawke's Bay farmer Hugh Ritchie, an existing irrigation user, Fish & Game environmental manager Corina Jordan, who has been instrumental in legal action related to the project, consultant Peter Fraser, a critic of the economics of the dam, and Jonathan Dick, Ngati Kahungunu's environment and natural resources director.

"We have received a huge amount of support for the meeting," Ms Rose said.