Wollongong City Council will make a last ditch attempt to get Austinmer's ocean pool open for Christmas, with staff recommending councillors vote to skip the usual tender process for the outstanding works.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Originally due to be completed in October, the project to fix the sea wall, pool walls, pathways and hand rails has been plagued with budget blow-outs and delays.
Two weeks ago, contractor Specialised Marine Services packed up and filed for voluntary administration, leaving the project unfinished.
The council employed local firm Affective Services to do temporary works to make the pool safe.
Staff are now urging councillors to recognise "extenuating circumstances" and skip the usual process of calling for public tenders.
Council director of infrastructure and works Mike Hyde said he hoped this would speed up the remaining works.
However, he said there was no guarantee the pool would be safe to swim in over Christmas, as Affective Services struggled to work in difficult conditions.
"We're doing our best to make the pool safe so people can use it for Christmas, but that can't be promised," Mr Hyde said.
He said he was "very unhappy" with the way the project - originally forecast to cost about $500,000 - had unfolded, but said many of the issues were out of the council's control.
A report to councillors confirms the extent of the budget blow-out for the Austinmer works, revealing the council paid more than $511,000 to Specialised Marine Services.
Mr Hyde said this represented just 70 per cent of the works, and he thought at least $200,000 more could be needed to fix the pools.
"We're going into a new process now, so someone's got to come and have a look and make their assessment of what it will cost," he said.
"If it's $200,000 that's great, but we don't think it will be that much, it will probably be a bit more."
Mr Hyde said this cost blow-out could mean something else in the council's capital works program missed out, which was why the controversial "citizens panel" had last year suggested some of the pools be destroyed.
"There are lots of rock pools and each one costs us a lot of money to maintain," he said.
"So we have to ask the community 'Do we really want this many pools?' and at the moment they're saying yes."
Council staff have also recommended more than $578,000 be spent on replacing the Wombarra Beach sea wall.
Mr Hyde said the difficulties at Austinmer had been taken into account, but it was impossible to know how works so close to the ocean were going to pan out.
"Just because something happens one place doesn't mean it's going to happen at the next," he said.
