New Napier pontoons to be built at Ahuriri boat ramp

The launch ramp where pontoons will be installed part-way on the left, in the centre, and along the Hawke's Bay Sports Fishing Club landing. Photo / Doug Laing

The Hawke's Bay Sports Fishing Club was about to put its foot down when it learned there will actually be something to put the foot down on when a new pontoon is built at the Ahuriri launching ramp it sold to the Napier City Council seven years ago.

Club president Neil Price said the club had been wondering when something would be done to replace the pontoons that had been removed a year or so after the sale.

With competitions almost out of the way for the season, the club was about to start asking questions, aware that $600,000 had been allocated in the annual plan.

The council has now let a $547,000 contract to Lattey Group for the supply and construction of 123 metres of floating pontoons at the "Nelson Quay Boat Ramp," expected to take about three months to install but with a start date not yet certain.

Pontoons will be installed part-way along the length of the wall separating the launch area from the Iron Pot entrance, in the centre, to create separated launch spaces - and the length of the launch area to the end of the club landing.

Price said that with just a short length of the pontoon currently in use, there had been congestion at the ramp which would be alleviated by the use of pontoons for boats to tie up to and for crew to land to get trailers ready while others were launching.

A council spokesperson said construction will be in sections to retain public access to part of the ramp as much as possible.

Recent inspections had identified some preventative maintenance work to rock revetments under the fishing club deck, and it would be undertaken before installation of the pontoons on that side.

The project includes the replacement of the concrete abutments further up the ramp to give additional clearance in extreme tides.

The council agreed to buy the ramp for $271,000 in 2015, in what councillors said would secure a valuable asset for the city at a good price. It enabled the club to pay off a burdensome debt, for which the council was the guarantor.

Price said the move had made the club more viable in struggling times. It had flourished in the years since and with a surge in families coming into the club and a membership of over 600 its future as a significant community asset would be guaranteed for a "long time."