Boat harbour work starts
A $120,000 project 15 years in the making has begun to shift tonnes of sediment out of the Otago Boat Harbour.
The Otago Yacht Club yesterday began a 10day operation to dredge up to 3000cu m of sediment from the marina to allow boats to enter and exit at all times of day.
At present, harbour rescue craft and yachts could get stuck during low tide.
The area was last dredged in 1995.
Club commodore Frank McCarthy said it was a ‘‘significant’’ project, which started about 15 years ago.
‘‘And it’s for the community also. The wider community use the boat harbour, but noone else was going to dredge it, so we thought we’ll just bite the bullet and do it.’’
It was paid for through grants and money the club saved over many years, he said.
The club received consent for the work more than a year ago, but it was delayed because of costs and extra consents, he said.
At that time, the project was more ambitious and involved dredging the whole boat harbour, but now work would stop at the first pontoon.
That brought the cost, including cheap hiring of dredging boats from Port Otago, down from an estimated $300,000 to about $120,000.
‘‘Port Otago have been really helpful,’’ he said.
In its current state, the boat harbour was dangerous, as rescue boats were ‘‘struggling to get out’’ at low tide, he said.
It was hoped the work would change the water depth of an area near the entrance of the boat club from 0.5m to 1.5m at low tide.
The project involves building a temporary ramp so diggers can scoop tonnes of sediment from the dredging boats.
It will then be transferred to trucks and taken to the Logan Point quarry.