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The Logan Northern Australia Water Scheme, designed and proposed by John Logan, Chairman of Western Agricultural Industries (WAI), consists of two major projects: * the West Kimberley Irrigation Project and * the Kimberley to Perth Canal. These two projects provide for the irrigation of 340,000 hectares near Broome, Western Australia, and the channelling of water 3,748 km by canal from the Fitzroy River to Perth. This article gives background on the Logan Northern Australia Water Scheme to support fresh consideration of the proposals. WAI remains ready to proceed with both proposals, which are held as its intellectual property, when approved by government. ==History== In 1991 Logan, a large-scale irrigation industry specialist, drawing on an idea of Ernie Bridge of the mid-1980s for a pipeline from the Ord River dam overland through the Great Sandy Desert to Perth, embarked on a study tour to explore the development opportunities of the extensive water resources of the northern zones of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. After extensive research, he selected the West Kimberley region of Western Australia as the most suitable area due to its dry-season climate, water storage capability and ideal soil type and for the advantages of a project there: economies of scale, environmental sustainability, and proximity to port facilities and export markets. Logan formed a joint venture with Lend Lease–Logan of Kimberley Water Services and, following a positive feasibility study of the canal design concept by Lend Lease, submitted the irrigation and canal scheme as a fully funded development proposal to Western Australian Premier Carmen Lawrence and Water Resources Minister Ernie Bridge as a solution to water shortages in Perth and the Pilbara and as the basis of a large-scale, integrated irrigation industry, initially in cotton production, for the vast Kimberley region centred on Broome, employing a projected 1,300 Aboriginal people. The combined proposal was strongly supported by the Lawrence government, and it was agreed that it could also serve as a model for the development of other areas of northern Australia. Following a change of government, the canal component of the scheme was rejected by the incoming Premier, Richard Court, who considered Perth did not have a water problem. However, his government undertook to support, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) issued under the authority of Resources Minister Colin Barnett, Logan’s commercially funded WAI West Kimberley Irrigation Project, designed to utilise the extensive flood flows of the Fitzroy River. Subsequently, in 2005, in a contract now expired, WAI joined with infrastructure company Tenix, to present the canal project to political leaders including Colin Barnett,〔("Canal company yet to assess environmental issues" ), ''ABC News'', 8 February 2005〕 who as opposition leader used the proposal as part of his unsuccessful 2005 state election campaign.〔("Water will come south, Barnett says" ), ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 6 April 2011〕 He ruled it out when campaigning for the 2008〔("‘Barnett axes plan for water canal from Kimberley to Perth" ), ''The Australian'', 9 August 2008〕 election but on 2 August 2012, after an election which brought him to the position of Premier and following Perth’s driest July on record, Barnett raised the proposal again, saying that ''"from a technical or engineering point of view, it’s not difficult to do"'', as ''The Australian'' reported under the headline ‘Barnett’s waterway back on agenda’.〔("Barnett's waterway back on WA’s agenda" ), ''The Australian'', 2 August 2012〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Logan Northern Australia Water Scheme」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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