Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Firm bidding to build dam happy with data

By Lawrence Gullery
Hawkes Bay Today·
2 Jul, 2013 02:00 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The two companies competing for the bid to build the Ruataniwha water storage dam have made their first appearances in public ahead of the decision to select the winning contractor in October for the $230 million project.

Leading European contractor, Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL) and Hawkins Infrastructure, New Zealand's largest privately-owned construction company, joined forces to bid for the design and construction phase of the water storage scheme in Central Hawke's Bay.

France-based contractor Bouygues Construction is the competing bidder. The company operated globally on large infrastructure projects, including dams and has a subsidiary based in Australia. It had partnered with the Napier branch of Opus International Consultants and MWH.

Project manager Santiago Carmona is likely to be appointed construction manager if the OHL Hawkins bid was successful. He was among several experts from the OHL Hawkins team to inspect the site last week and said he was happy with the data he collected.

"At the moment we are trying to test all the materials in the river and confirm all the data so it meets the feasibility study. We need to know where the materials come from, the availability and the quality.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We have built various water storage structures around the world and often we have had to divert the river flow. The Makaroro River (where the dam was proposed) doesn't have to be moved, which makes it easier to manage."

Mr Carmona managed the construction of four large dams in Spain and South America and was excited about the prospect of relocating his family to Hawke's Bay to lead the project.

OHL was working with GHD, an international civil engineering consultant, to do the design work and will provide the Hawke's Bay Regional Council with detailed costings and information about the overall viability of the scheme.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Bouygues representatives presented to the regional council's Maori Committee recently, specifically looking at the employment opportunities if it was selected as the winning bidder.

Committee chairman Mike Mohi said the company made a commitment to use local labour where it could on the project.

"Building the dam is going to take about three-and-a-half years and outlying the infrastructure will be spread over time, maybe double or triple the time it takes to build the dam."

Mr Mohi said Bouygues indicated it would employ about 300 to 350 people. Between 30 to 40 of those would be the company's "experts from overseas" as well as consultants from Opus.

"The real numbers of people who could be employed or involved in the dam don't come so much from its construction but from its expansion and ongoing infrastructure work, and its benefits for farms processing which can create smaller business opportunities."

Mr Mohi was also involved in Nga Whenua Rahui, a ministerial funded committee, which was looking to train people through EIT Hawke's Bay to work on an ecological mitigation plan for the dam.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

07 Jul 04:25 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

07 Jul 04:10 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

One lane reopens after diesel spill on Napier-Taupō road

07 Jul 04:03 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

07 Jul 04:25 AM

The winners will be celebrated at Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts and Events Centre on July 31.

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

07 Jul 04:10 AM
One lane reopens after diesel spill on Napier-Taupō road

One lane reopens after diesel spill on Napier-Taupō road

07 Jul 04:03 AM
'Massive cleanup': Fire damages Napier cocktail bar just months after opening

'Massive cleanup': Fire damages Napier cocktail bar just months after opening

07 Jul 04:03 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP