My Account
Costs estimates have skyrocketed for Orewa’s seawall, and work is unlikely to begin for several years.
The process of building the wall, between Kohu St and Marine View, began with consultation and the lodging of consent in 2016. After a long and expensive court process, an amended design obtained resource consent this year (HM June 3).
Last month, Auckland Council’s lead on the project, Paul Klinac told the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board that construction costs, estimated some years ago at $6 million, are now in the order of $14 million.
More than $1 million of that is for detailed design work – a figure Mr Klinac referred to as “a conservative estimate”.
As revealed in Hibiscus Matters, costs associated with the lengthy Environment Court proceedings were almost $1 million.
Mr Klinac told board members that funding for the project dried up with cuts related to Covid-19 and will be sought during Council’s Long-Term Plan (budget) process, next year. He said the resource consent applies for five years “but we can seek an extension to 10 years, if needed”.
He expressed frustration at how long the court decision took – almost a year – saying had it come earlier the project could have got underway before lockdown and associated budget constraints.
The former Rodney District Council also hoped to build a seawall on the same part of Orewa Beach but was declined resource consent. The former Council spent around $450,000 on the project.
Sand transfer due this month
Meanwhile, a full sand transfer on Orewa Beach is scheduled for October 12, which will shift thousands of cubic metres of sand from the southern end to the north.
Last month, a small amount of sand was shifted as a buffer to protect the reserve from the effects of a storm.
