Queensland's Paradise Dam to be rebuilt after being deemed unrepairable

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Queensland government is promising to rebuild Bundaberg's Paradise Dam. The safety has been questioned since it was damaged in the 2013 floods and now, Sunwater says the concrete wall is beyond repair.

Transcript

00:00 Paradise Dam sits on the Burnet River south of Bundaberg.

00:06 It was built in 2005 to provide water security.

00:09 Instead, it's a major infrastructure failure.

00:13 The current Labor state member blames his predecessors.

00:16 The Beattie government commissioned this dam.

00:19 And I think that Peter Beattie owes a personal apology to the people of Bundaberg.

00:22 The wall was lowered by five metres due to safety concerns in 2020.

00:28 Sunwater admits it now doesn't meet safety standards and the strength of the concrete

00:32 will deteriorate.

00:34 We have confidence that the dam is safe today.

00:38 But the issue for us is investing in that dam and trying to rebuild that dam up is not

00:42 a viable alternative going forward.

00:45 Sunwater is recommending a completely new structure about 70 metres downstream to return

00:50 the dam to its full 300,000 megalitre capacity.

00:54 We need to make sure that we can give certainty to this community that we are going to deliver

00:58 this project.

00:59 This is a farce.

01:01 It's the greatest infrastructure failure this country has seen and the government is not

01:06 accepting responsibility.

01:07 Farmers are sceptical a new dam will be built.

01:11 I do not believe that I will see the new Paradise Dam wall built in my lifetime.

01:17 No budget has been outlined for the rebuild project but Sunwater says it has started work

01:23 on a business case and new environmental approvals will be sought.

01:28 $1.2 billion promised by the state and federal government to fix the original will kickstart

01:34 the project but it's certain to cost much more than that.

01:38 Once we get the detailed business case then we'll be able to tell how much more this project

01:43 is going to cost on top of the $1.2 billion at that point in time.

01:47 In the meantime the troubles aren't going anywhere.

01:50 We are not abandoning the current dam, we continue to operate and maintain that dam.

01:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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