Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Businessman says Queensland sourcing water from PNG certain to happen

Posted at 22:12 on 29 July, 2010 UTC

An Australian businessman says his plan to pipe fresh water more than 3000 kilometres from Papua New Guinea to Queensland will definitely happen.

Fred Ariel’s Might and Power Company has signed a deal with the PNG government to conduct a feasibility study into the plan.

Mr Ariel says the scheme involves creating six hydro power stations to generate electricity to towns along the route of the project.

He says he has the backing of the Queensland and Australian governments and believes the project is feasible.

“I think it’s inevitable. We know that the engineering exists. We know the supply is there. We know that the demand is there. It’s not rocket science to hook up point A to point B with a long hose.”

Fred Ariel says the project’s estimated to cost about 26.8 billion US dollars.