The ACT taxpayers' loss on the sale of TransACT has been confirmed at more than $55 million.
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But Actew, the territory-owned corporation that built the public stake in the home-grown telco, has said the decision to sell had been a good one.
It has also been revealed that Actew had been trying to increase its stake in TransACT before the telco was sold.
Actew spent $60 million in taxpayers' money between 2000 and 2003 building up its 18 per cent TransACT stake, only to spectacularly write down the value of its investment to nil in 2004.
The water corporation's managing director Mark Sullivan told an Assembly committee that Actew had been paid $4.9million from last month's sale of TransACT to West Australian outfit iiNet.
Mr Sullivan told the committee members that the sale represented a profit, technically, because Actew had revalued its TransACT stake to $4.7million.
''We were in receipt of 18per cent of the proceeds of TransACT and that resulted in a small book profit for us in respect to the holding of TransACT on our balance sheet and that will be recorded as profit,'' Mr Sullivan said.
''There have been two very good decisions made in relation to TransACT, one was to create it and invest in it and the other was to sell it.
''It was created to ensure that Canberra did not fall behind in what was then a developing technology space.''
Mr Sullivan said Actew had been kept up to date on the negotiations with iiNet but played only a minor role in the eventual deal.
''Technically, we didn't have a say in the sale,'' he said.
''We were an 18per cent shareholder and as long as two-thirds of the shareholders wished to sell, we would be dragged along.
''It's on our books as a $4.7 million investment. It had been written down to zero and since that time had rebirthed itself into some profitability that saw our shareholding revalued in 2009, back to $4.7 million.''
Mr Sullivan told the Public Accounts Committee that Actew had been in the market for more shares in TransACT before the deal was struck with iiNet.
''We actually approached two other shareholders before it was sold and they rejected us but it turned out that we offered them about the price they got, slightly under,'' he said.
The committee was also told that Actew's big water security project, the enlargement of the Cotter Dam, was likely to suffer construction delays because of a second consecutive summer featuring heavy rain.
''We've reached a good stage now in that its higher than the old Cotter Dam,'' Mr Sullivan told the MLAs.
''Would I like to be further than that? Yes I would.
''We are significantly impacted by weather and I cannot avoid it. November this year was wetter than November last year and December looks like another heavy weather month, the bureau tells me.''
Describing the weather as ''awful'', Mr Sullivan said he would be unable to tell until next year how far behind schedule the project was likely to fall.
''My schedule and my budget is under pressure and I will be going through an exercise over Christmas with [dam builders] the Bulk Water Alliance to understand exactly what that pressure is,'' he said. ''I would expect to take that to the board in February and I would expect to make it public as soon as the board understands the position.''