On Friday, the NRSBU agreed to spread out the costs by deferring $5m worth of capital projects from the first five years of its 10-year programme, to the last five years.
This would mean a reduction in capital project costs (excluding renewals) in 2021-2022 from $5.45m to $4.8m, and over the course of three years from $17.5m to $13.9m.
Associated with the reduced capital costs, there was also expected to be some operating cost savings as a result of the deferral.
At the meeting, NRSBU activity engineer Iain Satterthwaite said the deferred projects included irrigation work at Best Island, electricity upgrades at Best Island and the wastewater treatment plan, storage at pumping stations, and seismic upgrades.