Property Council recommends a unitary authority in the Waikato.

As predicted in the December 4 issue of NBR, Waikato’s WEL Networks has teamed with Hamilton fibre optic network provider Velocity to bid for a chunk of the government’s $1.5 billion matching funds for ultrafast broadband.

About 60 affected landowners have made submissions on Transpower’s Wairakei to Whakamaru line – one of the state-owned transmission company’s top four priority projects.

The new double circuit 22kV line, costing between $100 million to $300 million, would replace the existing Wairakei to Whakamaru B line via Poihipi Rd. Submissions on the option closed today.

Having just had consent declined for a $550 million wind farm near Dannevirke, Contact Energy has another fight on its hands over an even bigger project in the Waikato.

Contact has applied for consent to build a $1.2 billion 540-watt capacity wind farm with 150 turbines along the coast from Port Waikato to Raglan.