$100m project to kill Mokoan a secret

Source: Wangaratta Chronicle 30.08.08

Farmer questions government’s lack of public fanfare

Written by PHILIP NOLAN.

THE first physical steps towards the disappearance of Lake Mokoan are under way - and the government does not even know about it.

That is the view of Doug Bain, a member of the Future Land Use Committee appointed by the government to assist in the transformation of the lake into a wetlands.

"There are two long reach excavators, a grader and a truck and trailer and they are beginning the work near the outlet on the embankment channel to allow the flow of water to be reversed," Mr Bain said.

"And yet there hasn’t been a word about it publicly.

"You would have thought if the government is so proud of this now $100m plus project, they would make a big fanfare.

"However, it looks as though they are doing the work on the quiet."

He said he had contacted the office of Kaye Darveniza (MLC, Northern Victoria) on Friday after noticing the work under way the previous day.

"However, I got a hand-written note back to say no work would be starting until negotiations had been complete with irrigators over water entitlements," he said.

Mr Bain said a similar response had been received through the office of the Minister for Water.

"It’s incredible really. The government appointed me onto this committee and I have taken a very keen interest all the way through, but when I tell them what I am seeing with my own eyes, they don’t believe me," he said.

Mr Bain said he believed the equipment being used on the work was seconded from the food bowl revitalisation project.

"That would suggest to me that there have been no expressions of interest for the work or call for tenders," he said.

"It looks like a closed shop and businesses living in the surrounding area have not been given an opportunity to secure any of the work."

He said the equipment being used at Mokoan was from a Congupna-based firm.