Ross rebuts defence of plant

Kevin Ross Council CEO

Former Wanganui District Council wastewater expert Colin Hovey's defence of the ailing treatment plant has provoked a reaction from the council senior manager.

Chief executive officer Kevin Ross said yesterday that Mr Hovey's opinion - carried in a number of letters to the Chronicle - did not have the weight of the experts who provided advice to council on the $24 million rebuild of the Airport Rd wastewater treatment plant.

In his latest letter - published on Tuesday - Mr Hovey said claims that the design of the plant would never have worked were flawed, and he said now council had "broken" the plant, it was forced to ask the ratepayers for $24 million to fix it.

Because the design of the rebuild had been rushed, he said, there was an extremely high risk that "council is ploughing head first into an expensive disaster".

Mr Ross, however, said yesterday that Mr Hovey's involvement in the project while he was with council meant he was unable to provide an independent opinion on the performance of the treatment plant. Mr Hovey was a member of the Wastewater Treatment Working Party in the early 2000s.

Mr Ross said Mr Hovey's knowledge of the project after his departure from council was inevitably incomplete. "He will be unaware of subsequent facts and circumstances arising and investigated after his departure which it would be necessary to have full knowledge of, in order to provide a meaningful opinion on the current performance of the treatment plant." He said that the council had engaged three "substantial, independent and impartial expert organisations" to thoroughly review the wastewater treatment plant from scratch.

"Each organisation has the benefit not only of being able to bring a completely fresh pair of eyes to the issue and substantial knowledge and resources gained from other plants and other issues that they have investigated, but also to consider all of the information and facts available in relation to the wastewater treatment plant.

"The views provided by the experts engaged disagree with Mr Hovey's thoughts and views."

Mr Ross said the council believed the advice provided by the experts had greater credibility and weight than the opinions provided by Mr Hovey.