Posted on December 11, 2018
The Ceduna District Council has approved a budget increase for the construction of the Thevenard Marine Offloading Facility.
Major construction work has taken place in recent months, including construction of the breakwater, with rock for the breakwater sourced mainly from the nearby Lot 5 area.
Excavation of Lot 5 commenced last year and produced about 33,000 tonnes of rock, which was found to be generally smaller and lighter than required for primary breakwater rock requirements meaning other sources were needed.
Based on the rock already sourced and the volume required to complete the breakwater, a $220,000 increase for Rock and Crete Crushing Services was required.
A further $293,000, needed for Maritime Constructions’ work in stages 4 and 5 of the build, related to uncertainty over the final design of marina berths, with $110,143 for project managers Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec to undertake redesign work.
The council approved a budget increase of $102,310, for a total construction cost of $11,774,337.48.
The council’s chief executive officer Geoff Moffatt said the cost was mainly covered by a $500,000 contingency placed in the original budget.
“It will cost an extra $102,000 over the original budget, which is about 0.5 per cent over the project budget, because we allowed for the contingency,” he said.
“The main issues are predominantly the sourcing of suitable rock of different grades for the breakwater, and the cost of pontoon berths which is more than the designers anticipated.”
Mr Moffatt said the contracts had been executed and due to the need for suitable rock there was no way around the additional costs.
“It is only half a percent, which is a very small amount over the life of the facility.”
He said the project was on track to meet the October 2019 completion date, with construction of the breakwater ahead of schedule.
“The breakwater is expected to be largely completed by Christmas and then the main steps will be the dredging of the basin, construction of the marina berths and suspended jetty, then the installation of power, services and navigation markers,” Mr Moffatt said.
“The main unknown at this stage is if there’s a problem with dredging – it is not expected, but it is an unknown.”
Mr Moffatt said there had been interest from companies keen to utilise the facility.
“There has been more than adequate interest in use of wharfage and marina berths,” he said.
“Council has spent a lot of money to get to this point, and this is the single biggest development activity in Ceduna for a long time, and the foreseeable future.”
Source: Sentinel
