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Hinze Dam Stage 3 Project— Compensatory Habitat Land Tenure Arrangements

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Hinze Dam Stage 3 Project— Compensatory Habitat Land Tenure Arrangements Coordinator-General’s Change Report Hinze Dam Stage 3 project— compensatory habitat land tenure arrangements April 2010 Under part 4 of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 Coordinator-General’s Change Report Contents Synopsis.........................................................................................................1 1. Introduction.............................................................................................2 1.1 Purpose .............................................................................................2 1.2 The proponent ...................................................................................2 1.3 Project background............................................................................3 1.4 Project approvals...............................................................................3 2. Overview of the proposed change ........................................................4 2.1 Project change request: statutory process.........................................4 2.2 Description of the proposed change ..................................................4 2.3 Justification for the proposed change ................................................5 2.4 Invitation to comment.........................................................................5 3. Evaluation of change request................................................................6 3.1 Information considered ......................................................................6 3.1.1 Information from the proponent ........................................................................... 6 3.1.2 Submissions received: DERM ............................................................................. 9 3.1.3 Submissions received: DEWHA .......................................................................... 9 4. Conclusion ............................................................................................10 Appendix 1 – amended condition...............................................................12 Appendix 2 – original condition 1a.............................................................13 Appendix 3 – further information ...............................................................14 0 Synopsis Construction of the Hinze Dam Stage 3 project (the project), involving the raising of the existing Hinze Dam, is currently underway. The dam’s embankment is being raised by 15 metres from 93.5 metres to 108.5 metres. The project’s proponent, the Queensland Bulk Water Supply Authority, trading as Seqwater, has made a request for a change to the terms of an approval condition. The condition was imposed on the project by me in the Coordinator-General’s Report on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Hinze Dam Stage 3 project, finalised in October 2007. The requested change relates to the entity that may own and manage land acquired as an offset for the project’s environmental impacts. As approximately 318 hectares (ha) of remnant vegetation will be impacted as a result of the increased inundation level of the dam post- project completion, the original project proponent, the Gold Coast City Council (GCCC), proposed a compensatory habitat strategy to account for the project’s environmental impacts. Conditions imposed by me relating to the compensatory habitat strategy required, in part, the acquisition and management of freehold land with good environmental values. A further requirement was made that transfer of the acquired freehold land to state tenure with local government management or to local government tenure and management must occur. As a result of institutional reform of water asset ownership instigated by the State government, Seqwater became the project proponent and owner of the Hinze Dam in July 2008. Seqwater has now requested to be the entity able to own and manage any land acquired as an environmental offset for the project. As Seqwater is a statutory authority and not a state or local government entity, it does not meet the original condition’s criteria for tenure. This change report has been prepared pursuant to section 35I of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 (SDPWO Act) and provides an evaluation of the effects of a proposed change to the terms of a condition made of the Hinze Dam Stage 3 project. Previously this has been the subject of evaluations in the Coordinator-General’s report on the EIS in October 2007, an amendment to the Coordinator-General’s Report made in March 2008 (regarding an extension of blasting times) and the Coordinator-General’s Change Report of July 2008 (regarding construction hours). In consideration of all information provided by Seqwater to support the request, I have determined that the condition may be modified to allow Seqwater to own and manage land acquired as part of the project’s compensatory habitat strategy. Appendix 1 provides the amended condition which states the terms of tenure. In the making of my decision, I have also considered submissions on the matter as made by the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) and the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA). In accordance with section 35J of the SDPWO Act, a copy of this report will be provided to the project’s proponent. It can also be viewed on the Department of Infrastructure and Planning (DIP)’s website, at www.dip.qld.gov.au ………………………………………… Colin Jensen Coordinator-General Date: 22 April 2010 Coordinator-General’s Change Report Hinze Dam Stage 3 project—compensatory habitat land tenure arrangements 1 - 1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose This report has been prepared in accordance with section 35I of the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 (SDPWO Act). The purpose of this report is to provide the Coordinator-General’s evaluation of a request for a proposed change to a condition of approval made on the project. The currently approved details for the project are described in: the Coordinator-General’s Report on the EIS (October 2007) an amendment to the Coordinator-General’s Report (March 2008) the Coordinator-General’s Change Report (July 2008). These documents are available from the DIP website www.dip.qld.gov.au 1.2 The proponent The project’s proponent is the state-owned Queensland Bulk Water Supply Authority (QBWSA) trading as Seqwater. On 16 November 2007, the South East Queensland (Water Restructuring) Act 2007 (the water restructuring act) came into effect and delivered major reform to the management of water services for South East Queensland (SEQ). Seqwater was established on the same day as the enabling of the water restructuring act and was charged with providing bulk water storage and treatment services to the SEQ water grid. Seqwater is a statutory authority owned by the state. As per the terms of the water restructuring act, ownership of Hinze Dam and the project was transferred from the Gold Coast City Council (GCCC) to Seqwater on 1 July 2008. Seqwater has responsibility for managing 25 dams and 47 weirs across SEQ, including the Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine dams (the Wivenhoe system) and the Baroon Pocket Dam on the Sunshine Coast. In addition, Seqwater operates 46 water treatment plants and 14 groundwater bore fields. Seqwater is also charged with delivery of water infrastructure projects including construction of an advanced water treatment plant at Ewen Maddock Dam on the Sunshine Coast and the Hinze Dam raising. In terms of the project’s delivery, in September 2006, GCCC appointed the Hinze Dam Alliance (HDA) to design and construct the Hinze Dam Stage 3. The HDA is a consortium of private sector entities, being Sinclair Knight Merz, Thiess Pty Ltd, and URS Corporation. Seqwater is also a partner in the HDA. GCCC has continued involvement in the project through the provision of project management services for the construction phase. 2 1.3 Project background Construction of the project involves the raising of the existing dam’s embankment by 15 metres from 93.5 metres to 108.5 metres, increasing the dam’s capacity to over 309 700 million litres (ML). The upgrade will provide an additional 79 000 ML of flood storage capacity and increase the dam’s yield by at least an additional 16 ML a day. The project will also provide greater flood mitigation for properties downstream of the dam and will make the structure compliant with current dam safety design guidelines and standards. Construction commenced in early 2008 and is due to be completed by 31 December 2010. Seqwater continues to operate the Hinze Dam during construction of the project. In acknowledgement of the project’s significance in contributing to the adequacy of water supply for the South East Queensland region, the project was one of a number of water infrastructure and new projects declared to be an ‘emergency measure’ under the Water Amendment Regulation (No.6) 2006. This regulation mandated the project’s completion date and its increase in yield. 1.4 Project approvals On 20 October 2006, pursuant to section 26 of the SDPWO Act, the Coordinator-General declared the project to be a ‘significant project’ for which an EIS was required. On 22 December 2006, the proponent referred the project to the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Heritage for a decision on whether the project constituted a controlled action under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). On 16 January 2007, the Commonwealth Minister determined that
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