Turned off gas

By Dion Teasdale
WARBURTON will not be connected to reticulated natural gas as an extension of the current roll-out program along the Warburton Highway.
The gas company behind the roll-out, Alinta, officially confirmed last week that the town would not be an addition to its gas extension program after exploring a range of roll-out alternatives.
Alinta was funded last year to roll out natural gas to nine towns across the Yarra Valley and along the Warburton Highway as part of the State Government’s $70 Natural Gas Extension program.
Warburton was not initially included in the program because Alinta found geological formations in and around the town, and deemed the project financially unviable.
Alinta claimed it would cost up to $6 million to connect Warburton to natural gas and that it would require at least a $4 million subsidy from the State Government to do so.
Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato said State Government funds allocated for the roll-out program had been exhausted and that a new source of funding would be needed to connect Warburton.
At a community meeting held in Warburton in December last year, representatives from Alinta undertook to explore alternative avenues to have Warburton connected to gas.
Options explored include using the now defunct O’Shannassy Aqueduct as an alternative to installing underground pipes along the Warburton Highway.
However, Alinta’s marketing manager, James Wong, told the Mail last week that exploration of alternatives had failed to yield more cost-effective options.
“We did explore different avenues such as using the aqueduct, and we did costings, but unfortunately it still wouldn’t be viable from a cost point of view,” he said.
Mr Wong said the aqueduct route was more expensive than the original proposal of running underground pipes along the Warburton Highway.
“We’ve looked at all the options and, at this point, Warburton does not fit the scope of our project,” he said.
Despite not identifying a cheaper route, Mr Wong said Alinta remained willing and able to connect Warburton to reticulated gas if funding for the project could be found in the future.
“We would like to connect the town to gas, but in order to do that we would need a subsidy to meet the shortfall,” he said.
“The subsidy could come through the State Government or perhaps through the Warburton community.”
Ms Lobato said she was continuing to lobby the State Government for funding to connect Warburton to gas.
She also confirmed she had held discussions with representatives from the Warburton Community Bank to explore other options.
Warburton Community Bank spokesman Geoff Vickers said the bank had been engaged in broad discussions about ways in which a funding solution might be found.
“The bank is open to any opportunities to develop the infrastructure of the town,” he said.
“We have been discussing different ways the funding shortfall might be made up without getting down to the nitty gritty of how.”
Meanwhile, the developers behind Warburton’s two new spa resorts have expressed disappointment at the decision not to extend gas to the town.
Garry Crockett, the developer of the Edgewater Resort and Spa to be constructed on the former Sanitarium Weetbix Factory site, said he would support a community campaign for gas to be connected.
“I find it hard to understand how Warburton is left out when the gas connection has come all the way through to Millgrove,” he said.
“It is the responsibility of the State Government to supply this infrastructure and I think it would be a great benefit to the community.”
John Stanley, the managing director of Ceo Resort Developments, the company behind Ythan Springs Resort and Spa, said the community needed and deserved natural gas.
“I believe the State Government owes it to places like Warburton to connect them to gas,” he said.