CONCERNS that the dredging of the Myall River had stalled have been allayed following the news that Great Lakes Council has advertised for tenders for the project.
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Applicants interested in dredging the Great Lakes’ waterways are invited to apply for the tender by 2pm on Wednesday, June 25.
Council staff would assess the tenders and submit their recommendations to councillors at the ordinary meeting on July 22.
Work on removing more than 90,000cubicmetres of sand from the eastern channel of the Myall River is expected to begin in August.
Myall River Action Group spokesperson Gordon Grainger was pleased the project was ‘‘progressing in accordance with the agenda’’.
‘‘Providing operator availability is on hand, the dredging program will commence in August,’’ Mr Grainger said.
The Tea Gardens resident expressed concern that if the dredge was not able to go ahead in August, the long-awaited work would have to be pushed back until April or May 2015.
However, he had high hopes all will go according to plan.
Mr Grainger represented the action group in April when Great Lakes Council, Crown Lands, and the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) met with Port Stephens MP Craig Baumann to flesh out a timeframe for the project.
‘‘We are very pleased to learn that council are receiving excellent co-operation from the state government agencies of OEH and Department of Lands and that final funding arrangements will be confirmed by mid-July,’’ Mr Grainger said.
‘‘We are still hopeful that the Federal government will also financially support the project,’’ he said.