A group of local businesses has committed to invest $11.5 million in New Zealand based Waimea Irrigators Limited (WIL), with the funds to be used towards development of the Waimea Community Dam.
WIL issued a Replacement Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to shareholders detailing its additional investment of $11.5 million in the $102 million Dam project. In August it was announced that the cost of the project increased by $26 million. Subsequently, Tasman District Council (TDC) approved a revised funding proposal that included a greater WIL contribution. Through an investor vehicle and additional in loan funding from Crown Irrigation Investments Limited (CIIL), WIL can meet its commitment to the project.
WIL Board Chair Murray King says it has raised the capital from selling shares in WIL to a new ‘investor vehicle’ – made up of a group of local, inter-generational family businesses on the Waimea Plains. Currently negotiations are being finalised and remain confidential but all commitments have been made.
The Waimea Community Dam has been proposed in a bid to secure the regions water supply. The proposed dam is a concrete face rock fill dam. It will be approximately 53m high, 220m long and 6m wide at the crest and will have a total reservoir storage volume of approximately 13.4 million cubic metres.
