The NSW Department of Primary Industries has revealed it plans to spend up to $3million to fix the decaying sea walls and other infrastructure around Belmore Basin.
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The heritage-listed but run-down area of Wollongong Harbour had been all but ignored by the government in the past few years, after a revitalisation plan by the previous Labor government dropped off the radar in 2012.
The department has now told the Mercury the government is ‘‘planning a program of works around the harbour foreshore’’, which will cost up to $3million and be ‘‘subject to availability of government funding’’.
Last May, Wollongong city councillors urged new state government action on the harbour precinct, with Liberal councillor Michelle Blicavs leading the charge.
She welcomed news of the planned Crown Lands works but said a much bigger redevelopment plan needed to be developed in conjunction with the community.
‘‘[The council has] just about completed the Blue Mile and our portion is almost done, so the only missing part is the development of the harbour,’’ she said.
‘‘I’m pleased that the state government are investing in the harbour and these repair works, but more needs to be done than just repairing.
‘‘This is one of our key tourism sites – it’s been packed all through summer and now is time for the state government to commit to reviewing what’s possible.’’
The news of further investment in the harbour comes one week after Crown Lands was ordered by the Environment Protection Authority to undertake $250,000 in compensation works following a sewage leak in the harbour in January last year.
The lands agency was found partially liable for the leak, which allowed faecal matter to seep into the harbour, and entered into an ‘‘enforceable undertaking’’ with the EPA to make sure such an incident did not recur.
It was told to prepare an operations plan for the continued use of Belmore Basin, remove the slipway workshop, undertake heritage conservation works, install signage and pay $25,000 to Wollongong council for a landscape maintenance project.
A Crown Lands spokeswoman said planning for these works had already begun.
‘‘The tender for removal of the slipway workshop will be advertised shortly with a view to works being complete by mid-2015,’’ she said.
She also said restoration of the sea wall at the eastern end of Brighton Beach was included in the EPA order, with work to start later this year.
