After decades of planning, the first stones of the Shell Cove breakwall were lifted into place on Wednesday, allowing the 300-berth man-made harbour to start taking shape.
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Standing on Shellharbour’s South Beach, which will soon become flooded with water and transform into a channel for boats, mayor Marianne Saliba said the construction of the breakwater and groyne – two structures that will form the edges of the harbour – had been brought forward almost a year.
She said an earlier start date on the $23 million contract would allow the large rocks from the “substantially advanced” boat harbour excavation and local quarries to be put in place now rather than months down the track.
“Rather than stockpiling them somewhere and them moving them back here, we’re can place the rocks where they need to be – and for us, that means having this entrance ready sooner rather than later,” she said.
The breakwater will stretch 467 metres into the ocean at a depth of up to 10 metres, while the groyne – a low timber wall built from the beach into the sea to minimise erosion – will extend 282 metres.
About 400,000 tonnes of rock will be used to build the two structures, with some of the individual rocks weighing up to 30 tonnes.
Cr Saliba said the boat harbour – which will be 30 per cent larger than Darling Harbour when complete – was on track to be finished by the end of 2018.
She also hailed the breakwall construction as a “major milestone” in the $3.7 billion Shell Cove project, which includes a golf course, commercial precinct and thousands of waterfront homes.
“This is a very important part of this project; the harbour has been at the heart of Shell Cove since it began almost 30 years ago,” she said.
“My mother was on the council that first started this council, so I have an emotional attachment to it.”
The project began in the late 1970s when the council purchased 400 hectares of beachfront rural land as a long term investment and began to investigate the tourism potential of the site.
The council is jointly developing the precinct with Frasers Property Australia, and – according to the latest feasibility study – will share in a profit of more than $143 million.
The council’s share, of $72 million, could be handed to ratepayers (perhaps of a merged council) as early as 2019.