McConnell Dowell's New Zealand and Pacific business managing director Roger McRae visited North Otago twice this month to update the company - and its farmer shareholders - on delays to the installation of the 114km expansion of the irrigation network and a failed first test of the new underground pipeline that flooded a farmer's paddock near Ngapara this spring.
The $57million expansion was initially expected to deliver water to farms by September 1 this year.
By May, farmers heard of a Christmas delivery date.
But after faults were found in mechanical couplers and gaskets used in the work during testing on November 4, Mr McRae presented last week a new timeline for expected completion of the construction which began in the spring of last year.
Farmers at the end of the line - at Herbert, Maheno and All Day Bay - should not expect water before March 27.
In a letter to shareholders, provided to the Otago Daily Times, NOIC chief executive Robyn Wells expressed concern about the accuracy of the updated works programme.
''From NOIC's perspective, we have not been given enough information to be confident of the dates that are provided [by McConnell Dowell],'' she wrote.
''We, and our advisers, see that there are still risks within the remediation work they propose doing and therefore the dates that each section would be fully complete could move.
''NOIC will monitor the progress of [McConnell Dowell] against this programme and will be sending weekly updates out to everyone.''
On Mr McRae's first visit to North Otago this month, he called the pipeline failure near Ngapara a ''significant setback'' and said the failure of the mechanical couplers could be ''a component failure, potentially installation error, and it's potentially a combination of both''.
Mr McRae's presentation to shareholders on December 22 indicated factory tests in Turkey concluded ''conforming couplers are OK provided correctly installed''.
In January, the work - gasket installation and coupler repairs - would be completed by nine civil crews and four mechanical crews.
When complete, the 8000-share, or roughly 10,000ha, expansion of NOIC's irrigation scheme means the company will irrigate about 25,000ha for nearly 200 shareholders south of the Waitaki River.
A share provides 0.4 litres per second per hectare, which is equivalent to 25mm per week.
The Waitaki District Council granted the irrigation company a $17million loan to help fund the expansion.
The expansion is also being funded by farmers and a loan from ASB bank.
