Fast-tracking pylons 'hypocritical'

Photo / Stephen Russell

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Former Energy Minister Max Bradford says the Government would be "hypocritical" if it chooses to fast track the Auckland pylon project.

The Electricity Commission is expected to give its approval to a plan to build a line of giant pylons from Waikato to Auckland today.

The Herald reported today the $683 million project could be fast-tracked by the Government to ensure it doesn't get bogged down in the resource consent process.

But Mr Bradford said the Labour government opposed former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon's overturning of a High Court decision to allow the Clyde Dam development to go ahead in 1982.

He added: "What they're proposing to do is bypass those processes and impose a central Government solution over the top of it and that's exactly what happened in the Clyde Dam case."

Mr Bradford said the only difference is that the Resource Management Act has a clause that allows the government to fast track a project without introducing special legislation.

"Central government basically removes the processes that are there in the law which applies to everyone else," Mr Bradford said.

The pylon project has been racked with controversy since national grid operator Transpower first sought approval to string a new line between Whakamaru near Tokoroa and Otahuhu in South Auckland.

That proposal has since been altered and now includes a line upgrade through Pakuranga as well as a substation upgrade, so that Auckland is not so dependent on Otahuhu for its electricity - a risk that was highlighted in June last year when the city had a major power cut.

The new line is proposed to be commissioned in 2011. But the plan to build pylons up to 70m high through farms and lifestyle blocks has met fierce opposition from affected landowners.

Confirmation of the project today means Transpower will move swiftly to obtain resource consents.

It is that process which Environment Minister David Benson-Pope has been considering speeding up by "calling in" the project.

Mr Bradford was the Energy Minister during the 1998 Auckland power crisis.