New irrigation infrastructure development must not only be economically and environmentally viable it must also have community backing to achieve success.
This was the consensus of speakers at an irrigation infrastructure market update run by Crighton Anderson and Northington Partners, in Christchurch last week.
Keynote speakers at the presentation - Irrigation Development: Aligning Economic Benefit with Practical Realities - were Environment Canterbury commissioner David Caygill, Ngai Tahu Holding Corp chief executive Mike Sang and Crown Irrigation Investments director Lindsay Crossen.
Greg Anderson, of Crighton Anderson and Northington Partners,
said ''enhanced irrigation'' would benefit rural communities and have an ''economic flow-on'' benefit to the country as a whole.
The opportunities for investment were significant but they had to have broad community support, Mr Anderson said.
Mr Caygill told the meeting irrigation development in Canterbury needed to align with the 10 targets of the Canterbury water management strategy. He emphasised the benefits of early and robust community consultation and that development need not be at the expense of the environment.
Mr Sang said, while Ngai Tahu had not yet invested in irrigation infrastructure in the South Island, the tribe was committed to agricultural development in the region and a ''sustainable'' approach to proposed projects.
Proposed projects should be technically sound, with good economic, environmental and community benefits, Mr Sang said.
Crown Irrigation Investments, newly set up by the Government to act as a bridging investor for regional water infrastructure projects, would help ''kick-start'' projects that would not otherwise get off the ground, Mr Crossen said.
He said it had a budget of $80 million in 2013 for investment and both ''green and brownfield schemes'' were under consideration (brownfield investments enhance existing schemes to ensure better productivity, while greenfield investments are for getting new projects off the ground).