The Government would make an announcement soon on solutions for the flood-ravaged Central Otago town of Alexandra, said Prime Minister Helen Clark. That was back in April.
This week, the cabinet finally considered a confidential compensation package - only to refer it back to its policy committee meeting today. The 12-member committee is charged with producing final recommendations for a decision by the full cabinet on Monday.
Alexandra is used to waiting. Flood waters have inundated the town three times between January 1994 and November 1999. The cause: a massive buildup of silt in Lake Roxburgh since the hydro dam was built by the Crown in the 1950s.
Optometrist Laurence O'Connell's business premises have been under water twice. He says the whole process is dragging on interminably for the flood-prone town.
Contact Energy, which inherited the dam and its liabilities from the former ECNZ, refuses to comment. It has been heavily involved in talks on the package before cabinet.
The Ministry for Emergency Management (formerly Civil Defence) has refused to reveal either the amount involved in its recommendations or how the Crown and Contact intend divvying up the cost.
A cynic would say there are not a lot votes in the town for Labour.
Contact has claimed a moral rather than legal responsibility to flood victims.
A recently completed report by Government-appointed Alexandra engineer Alex Adams on the flooding issues has also been kept secret. However, he recommended in an interim report in February that the Crown and Contact should pay $12 million to buy around 60 flood-prone properties in the area and pay for the erection of flood banks.
Another report commissioned by the local council recommended moving the town centre and flood protection works. It also suggested the purchase of affected properties at a total cost of between $23 million and $27 million.
Both ECNZ and its subsequent owner, Contact, have tried to flush out the silt from the dam.
Russell Hannah, who owns the Millers Flat holiday camp, complains that these efforts have damaged his property downstream of the dam to the tune of $20,000, without fixing the problem. No one seems to care about him or others downstream.
The taxpayers' liability doesn't end with Monday's cabinet decision. Several court cases relating to flood damage are being taken against the Crown, ECNZ and Contact.
The court recently ordered that three cases relating to the 1995 floods be heard together, including one taken by a consortium of insurance companies seeking $2 million paid out to policy-holders after the 1995 flood and a similar amount in 1999.
The litigants claim that the dam owners knew about the sedimentation and its impact on flood levels at Alexandra, without taking adequate measures to resolve it.
Contact's directors may choose to ignore any moral obligation.
But the angry community has the power to hit them where it hurts - in the pocket.
Resource consents for water rights for the 320MW Roxburgh Dam expire in October next year.
It's a threat packing plenty of punch. Roxburgh accounts for 17 per cent of Contact's total generation. Big dollars.
Mr O'Connell, who heads a local lobby group fighting for flood relief, bluntly warns that the community will shut the dam down if compensation falls short of expectation.
"We're not asking for a lot in this town. We just want to be flood-free."
<i>Between the lines:</i> Flood-weary Alexandra tired of playing the waiting game
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