A report by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office has found that food bowl modernisation and north-south pipeline plans were not backed by a strong business case and alternatives were not adequately explored.

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/brumby-water-plan-damned-20100609-xwua.html

These findings mirror the findings of Economists at Large for the desalination plant in our submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administrations’s inquiry into the Business Case for Water Infrastructure.

In the submission, Ecolarge concluded that there had been inadequate analysis conducted on water policy in Victoria and that the “Our Water Our Future” plan had not been subjected to any serious public economic analysis.  Economists at Large suggested that a levelised cost of water delivery approach should have been used to properly assess alternatives and that with figures and analysis at the time, a desalination plant did not appear to be the most efficient water policy option.

The original report released by the Auditor-General’s office can be found at the link below:

http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/reports__publications/reports_by_year/2009-10/20100906_irrigation_efficiency.asp

Website for inquiry: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/standing-committee-on-finance-and-public-administration/inquiries/article/594

Ecolarge submission: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/documents/council/SCFPA/water/Submissions/SCFPA_Water_27.pdf