Kooweerup gets the gas

By Danielle Galvin
KOOWEERUP’S Township Committee is “delighted” after a five-year fight for a natural gas supply in their town … but there’s still some red tape to get through.
The State Government has promised $100 million over the next four years through the Energy for the Regions Programs to extend natural gas throughout regional Victoria.
The program will support the delivery of natural gas to 12 towns, and the government has since made a commitment to Kooweerup.
Ray Brown from the township committee formed a sub-committee to lobby the government for a gas supply for the town.
He said he believed the committee had been lobbying for about four or five years.
“It was absolutely good news for us,” he said.
“We worked very hard for this – despite people saying we’d never get it, we persevered as a township committee.
“But our work has just started, we need to push on.”
Mr Brown said the committee had conducted two surveys, one of which returned a 70 per cent response rate for residents saying they would take up natural gas in the first six months.
“We are at the coalface – Kooweerup is a damp place, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“But we need to be a priority and we have to keep working towards that. While we welcome the announcement, we have to keep pushing.”
At the CEO’s address last week, Garry McQuillan said the council had been working closely with local Members of Parliament and government agencies to supply natural gas to Kooweerup.
“The State Government recently announced Kooweerup was one of 14 towns to have gas connected under the Energy for the Regions Program,” he said.
“The next stage will commence in the second half of 2012 and includes a plan to offer incumbent gas distributors a fixed subsidy ‘bounty’ amount to supply priority towns.
“In addition, bids will be invited from the market for a compressed (CNG) or liquefied (LNG) natural gas delivery system and local town reticulation networks.”
A spokesperson for the Minister for Regional and Rural Development, Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, said that natural gas was on the cards for Kooweerup.
“The Victorian Coalition Government is committed to delivering natural gas to priority communities under the $100 million Energy for the Regions program,” the spokesperson said.
“This commitment has now been extended to include Kooweerup in the list of priority towns for supply of natural gas.
“The next step in this program is to offer a fixed subsidy amount to gas distributors to supply and reticulate the remaining priory towns (including Kooweerup).
“The fixed subsidy for each town will be set at a level the government’s technical advisers have assessed as the amount necessary to provide gas distribution businesses with an appropriate return on investment,” the spokesperson said.