Source: Radio New Zealand
The proposed site for the dam project. RNZ / YouTube
The government is lending $18 million to a controversial dam project in Central Hawke’s Bay.
The Tukituki Water Security Project, formerly the Ruataniwha Dam, is currently undergoing a $6.8m pre-construction feasibility study funded by businesses, water uses and the government.
The new $18 million loan is from the government’s Regional Infrastructure Fund, and will be spent on the next phase of work running through to 2027.
It includes detailed engineering and design, and financing and commercial work with a final investment decision expected in 2028.
The proposed project would see a dam built on the Makaroro River, a tributary of the Tukituki River, and the flooding of 22 hectares of conservation land. The dam would be about 83m high in the Makaroro River and create a reservoir of approximately 93 million cubic metres, about seven kilometres long, and with a surface area of approximately 372 hectares.
The Ruataniwha plan was scuppered in 2017 by the Supreme Court, when it deemed a land swap unlawful.
But that could be overridden by the government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill.
Opponents of the dam launched a campaign in 2025 to stop the project, calling the rebranded project “the same pig, but with lipstick on”.
Tukituki Water Security Project chair Mike Petersen previously told RNZ the cost of the new project would not be known until a feasibility study was carried out.
A 2016 Regional Council report indicated the construction cost of the Ruataniwha dam could be $333m, with possible investment cost to farmers an additional $556m* taking it to more than $900m.
Associate Minister for Regional Development Mark Patterson is announcing the new funding loan in Central Hawke’s Bay this morning.
Petersen said the case for water storage in Hawke’s Bay was both urgent and well-evidenced.
“This announcement moves us from asking whether this project is feasible, to answering whether it is viable,” he said.
Petersen noted that the Hawke’s Bay Regional Water Assessment report found that even with significant improvements in water use, efficiency and conservation, by 2040 the region could experience a shortfall between demand and supply of freshwater of nearly 25 million cubic metres.
“Water storage is not a silver bullet when it comes to solving water security, however it must be part of the solution alongside other water efficiency measures. Without improved resilience, our environment, our communities and our economy will all suffer,” he said.
The group plans to lodge its Fast Track application mid-2026, which will include a land exchange with the Department of Conservation, which Petersen said will “both enlarge the area of conservation land and improve ecological values”.
The reservoir would release about 20 million cubic metres with an irrigation footprint of approximately 20,000 to 30,000 hectares.
New NZIER modelling shows the project could increase annual regional GDP by up to $693 million, and up to $452 million a year in additional household spending across the region.
Petersen said it was estimated the dam project will support 200 to 300 jobs during construction, and more than 1800 new permanent jobs once operational.
*The project was slated to get water to the farm gate, with farmers needing to invest in installing additional infrastructure.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
