Silt cash spending but no dredging

Launceston Flood Authority chairman Martin Renilson said yesterday that the authority would be forced to use the $1 million promised by Premier David Bartlett last August as crisis silt funding for the new permit process.

"We haven't got any money other than that," Professor Renilson said.

He revealed last month that dredging to tackle silt build-up in the Tamar estuary would not start until at least June because more permits were needed.

This was despite the money being made available by Mr Bartlett ahead of the full $6.5 million funding promised by the government to tackle silt in the river.

The flood authority, which took over responsibility for dredging from the Launceston City Council, discovered that environmental permits for dredging- current for five years - had lapsed.

Professor Renilson said the permit process, which included river water and silt sampling and analysis, would have to start again.

He said yesterday that the sampling and permit application process had not yet started.

"We are still having discussions and we have a dredging plan being developed with input from all stakeholders," he said.

The authority planned to contract out the core sampling and analysis work on silt in the river as well as on the silt ponds, which were full from previous dredging.

"We will get both done at the same time, which will also be a cost saving," he said.

He expected at least half of the $1 million to be spent on emptying the silt ponds before a new dredging program could start.

"People don't understand how expensive it is," Professor Renilson said.

He did not expect that the new sample and permit process would be fast-tracked so dredging could start before the next financial year.

But he believed that the Environment Protection Authority would deal with the permit material as quickly as it could.