Brash makes Kaituna splash

National Party leader Don Brash has waded into the debate over whether a new hydro energy plant should be built on the upper Kaituna River.

The project, proposed by Bay of Plenty Electricity, would supply 13.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 10,000 homes from a dam about 3.5km downstream from Lake Rotoiti.

After visiting the site Dr Brash released a statement saying it was "outrageous" that the Department of Conservation spent 13 months deciding on a concession application for the upper Kaituna hydro project only to recommend it be declined.

However, department officials say no decision has been made on whether the project will or won't go ahead and Dr Brash is jumping the gun by attacking them.

Local kayaking groups have attacked the proposal, which they say will all but destroy the Awesome Gorge, one of the top whitewater areas on the river.

The National leader, who was in Rotorua yesterday on a fact-finding tour of local businesses, said the project had "the capacity to produce renewable power for a region which has seen the lights go out already this winter".

Bay of Plenty Electricity was doing the region a service by looking at new means of energy generation and the Government was stalling growth by going against the proposal, he said. "As a consequence of the axing of other hydro schemes like Dobson on the West Coast and Project Aqua, New Zealand has ended up with the worst possible environmental outcome - the burning of coal to generate electricity."

Very few people kayaked on the part of the river where the 12m-high dam was proposed, downstream from an area known as the Trout Pool, Dr Brash said. Only a 3km stretch of the 56km river would be affected.

Department of Conservation Bay of Plenty conservator Henry Weston said he had been taken by surprise by Dr Brash, because no official decision had been made, however "our view is that it would not be consistent with the legal framework [for building a dam]". A similar proposal for the Kaituna had been made by Hamilton-based Mighty River Power, however that scheme appeared to have stalled, Mr Weston said.

While in Rotorua Dr Brash also gave his support to the Rotorua District Council's plans to ban repeat criminals from the central business district. "I have got a lot of sympathy for that [proposal] and we would support a bill to a select committee on it ... [recidivist offenders are] just something you don't need in this city."

Bay of Plenty MP Tony Ryall, who was the "caretaker" National representative for Rotorua, could sponsor the bill though Parliament, he said.