ONE of the jewels in the irrigation industry’s crown — Snowy Hydro — will be sold to fund the upgrade of 55 Melbourne intersections if the Coalition wins next year’s Victorian election.

Irrigators were stunned by Opposition Liberal Leader Matthew Guy’s announcement this week that, if elected, the Coalition would sell Victoria’s 29 per cent Snowy Hydro share to the Federal Government.

“When were they going to talk to us about it?” Victorian Farmers Federation water spokesman Richard Anderson asked. “This needs very careful consideration, given the risk to irrigators.

“We’d expect rock-solid agreements on the money going into water infrastructure, not city intersections.”

Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh did not answer questions on whether he had consulted irrigators on the sale and did not detail any returns rural communities would receive out of the deal.

Making the announcement Mr Guy clearly stated Victoria’s proceeds from the sale of Snowy Hydro would go towards the $4.1 billion to $5.3 billion upgrade of “55 of Melbourne’s busiest, most congested intersections”, with no mention of regional Victoria.

The Coalition’s policy document — Get Victoria Moving — states a third of the funding for the upgrades was expected to come from the sale of Victoria’s stake in Snowy Hydro, estimated at up to $1.8 billion.

Shepparton independent MP Suzanna Sheed slammed the proposal. “Victoria should protect its interests. If not, what will we have left?” she said.

“I think it is an outrageous proposition. Has anyone had a think about how this might affect irrigators?

“I am very much against the outright sale of these assets and there is ample evidence to show the detrimental effects of selling assets — just look at electricity.”

The sale of Snowy Hydro to the Commonwealth has been on the cards since Treasurer Scott Morrison announced the Federal Government wanted to buy out Victoria’s stake as well as NSW’s stake, at 58 per cent, in this year’s May Budget.

The offer was part of federal plans to take control prior to Snowy 2.0, the multibillion-­dollar upgrade to its capacity to store renewable energy.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has said the Labor Government was not opposed to selling its stake in Snowy Hydro but baulked at federal demands the money be spent on specific infrastructure. The NSW Government this week said it had not made a decision on the possible sale.

“The NSW State Government will ensure that all decisions made on Snowy Hydro will directly benefit the people of regional NSW,” a spokesman said.

But Murrabit irrigator Andrew Leahy said, if sold, he wanted the Snowy Hydro proceeds to go into a fund that would lend farmers the money they needed to deliver on-farm water savings.