"The market will want to have a good look at it and will decide what it's worth — I do not want to leave it rotting away in a bottom drawer. Too much work was done and we need to see if we can get some value."
He said the information included a large amount of science around water, such as how the water flowed in the Ruataniwha aquifer, and water storage options, and the council thought it important to release that information so people in CHB who wanted it for their own business reasons could gain access to it.
There were 17 consents on offer for a range of activities, including construction, land use, operating the dam and discharge permits.
Mr Graham said some of these consents may not be worth anything because any effort to resurrect the dam project would face several hurdles.
"I'm more interested in making the work on the aquifer and the geo-technical information available."
He said he imagined it was most likely interest would come from CHB farmers wanting to explore water storage, but the final decision would depend on who was making the offer and what they intended to do with it.
"It's really only valuable to CHB farmers — we don't want someone else to put it in a bottom drawer either — we want it to be of use to the community.
"We owe it to the ratepayers who invested serious money in it to get the best return possible."
Although the majority of the current council had opposed the dam project, including Mr Graham and fellow councillor Peter Beaven, who have both been appointed directors of HBRIC, Mr Graham said this would not affect how the council viewed any suggestions a buyer might put forward on how they would like to use the information and assets.
That would be constrained by the limits and rules set down by Plan Change 6.
"You can't farm or run a business or a town and ruin the rivers and streams — my hope is it will end up in the hands of farmers who want to do some form of water storage. They know the environmental constraints that have been set."
While independent director Dan Druzianic was being paid, he and Mr Beaven were not, and HBRIC was in something of a holding pattern. Other commercial directors would be appointed for any future projects HBRIC may consider.
At a meeting on March 28 the council discussed the matter, and staff recommended that the council instruct HBRIC to engage a third party to facilitate the sale of any assets or intellectual property developed in connection with the RWSS, at arms-length and within a specific timeframe.
Mr Graham said this had been achieved by advertising the sale in local and national media, and a third party was not needed.
"This is simply a commercial transaction."
Expression of interest documents were available at the council and any proposals were to be filed by May 11. The assets would be transferred back to the council if no acceptable offer was received.
