EXORBITANT COST

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 7, 5 August 1946, Page 5

EXORBITANT COST

PROTECTIVE WALL AT HEADS ESTIMATE OF £45,000 In response to considerable local comment that the Harbour Board should do something towards protecting the harbour mouth from continual silting up, the Board recently instructed its engineer (Mr C. H. Brebner) to go into the question of approximate estimates for carrying out such work. The report on this connection was before the Board at its meeting on Friday last and read as under:—

The Board requested that a walkover estimate of the cost be prepared for closing the Western Channel by groyne and confining the channel therefrom by groyne to the river mouth, and groyning the sandspit on the landward side as more particularly set out in original plans. By the term “groyne” I presume the Board meant a “retaining” or “sea wall” and I have based my estimate upon the latter as “groynes” could not be used for that purpose. Messrs. Blair, Mason, Lee and Brown prepared a report many years ago on the same project but I am unable to trace such report or the estimated cost of the work at that time.

A walk-over estimate is necesarily an approximation only and should be strictly regarded as such. A firm estimate would be based on careful field work including foundation soundings etc. The length of wall required would be not less than 2000 lin. feet, would have to be of rugged construction to stand heavy seas and river floods. The stone used would have to be of good quality and of large dimensions. The wall would be built on a sand foundation where considerable scour would take place. Provision would have to be made for this in designing the wall. The walkover estimate is as follows: — 30,000 tons of stone in situ at 30/per ton £45,000.