Victoria's water minister said the project manager of the desalination plant under construction in Wonthaggi will have to pay $1.6 million fine for each day of delay in finishing the project after the June 30 deadline.

Water Minister Peter Walsh made the warning as AquaSure and contractors Leighton Holdings and French water company Suez Environment said they expect delays due to cyclones and slow work.

AquaSure claimed in a confidential report that it lost 70 days production due to cyclonic weather in the site from April 2010 to August this year. Another 193 days were lost from union workers' action or go-slow.

Workers reportedly wanted to make the project take longer to finish because of the lucrative pay and perks offered by the developer Thiess Degremont. The developer pays $200,000 per year salary, "sober-up" breaks to workers who don't report for work intoxicated by alcohol and $65 travel allowance even on days off,

AquaSure informed the Australian Stock Exchange Thursday that it will miss deadline and incur losses of $192 million.
The desalination plant will cost $5.7 billion. Taxpayers are expected to pay $24 billion in expensive water from the plant for over 28 years.