Posted on August 30, 2016
By James Risdon, Herald News
A bulk cargo terminal operator is working with Cape Breton Regional Municipality on a plan to cut the costs of dredging at the Port of Sydney.
Mayor Cecil Clarke is hoping the port authority will soon get the nod from the federal and provincial governments for a $21-million expansion for cruise ships. That would come with a need for $1-million’s worth of dredging.
But PEV, which primarily handles coal, is also planning to do roughly $8 million’s worth of dredging to fill in what is now a closed-off cove and create an additional 32-acre site for bulk cargo. That project is expected to allow the bulk cargo terminal operator to handle larger vessels.
Mayor Clarke and PEV officials got together Friday to tour PEV’s facilities at the port and to discuss the possibility of working together to save money on their respective dredging projects.
“The proposed cruise terminal expansion project will also require dredging, along with some other port facilities at Sydney Harbour,” wrote Mayor Clarke on his Facebook page Friday.
“We will get this work done most efficiently by working all together.”
The area PEV is planning to fill with dredged material used to be Blast Furnace Cove, a backwater estuary that used to open onto Sydney Harbour.
The cove was closed off with a coffer dam in 2012 to create an engineered containment area for fill.
Under the terms of a deal to fund the cruiseship expansion project, the municipality is to put in $6 million and the balance is to be borne by the federal and provincial governments.
That project was expected to go ahead two years ago but was put on hold when it was determined the federal government had to consult further with aboriginal stakeholders on the development of the port.
With the striking of a deal between the Membertou and Eskasoni First Nations and the municipality last year, insiders are expecting the cruiseship expansion to be formally announced very soon.
Source: Herald News
