Works to dredge a critical sand shoal in Swansea Channel will start in the first week of December to improve boating safety ahead of the Christmas holidays.
The $666,000 contract awarded by the NSW Government will reduce shoaling that had reformed in the navigation channel between the southern entrance to Swan Bay and the drop over into Lake Macquarie.
The dredge will demobilize before Christmas and return after the school holidays to remove sand from the shoal in the channel opposite the Pelican airstrip.
“The dredging is necessary to ensure the ongoing safety, utility and enjoyment of the Channel and its surroundings ,” Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter and Central Coast, Scot MacDonald, said.
“Removing sand from the navigation channel between the southern entrance to Swan Bay and the drop over into Lake Macquarie will take about three weeks.”
“Following a competitive tendering process, the NSW Department of Industry – Lands awarded the contract, worth almost $666,000, to Sandpiper Dredging.”
While a large dredging project was completed successfully early last year, ongoing maintenance dredging of the Channel is necessary because of the dynamic nature of sand movement.
Following that project, some maintenance dredging was carried out before the 2015-16 summer boating season and again in June 2016.
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