CRITICAL repairs to the sea walls behind the wharf at Wanganui's port will proceed even though legal issues surrounding the port lease remain unresolved. That's the recommendation from the Wanganui District Council's harbour committee meeting yesterday. While the work will be carried out progressively, it is expected to cost about $1 million. Thebulk of the money is expected to come from income generated by harbour endowment property. Under the lease agreement, net income from that property is handed over the port company. The committee was told the repairs are critical to the operational viability of the port. The sea wall is almost 600m long and sits behind and beneath the wharf. Made of timber sheathing tied back to timber piles, it is failing. As a result, back-fill behind the sea wall is leaching out, creating holes in the wharf surface. The council and port lessee, River City Port Ltd, have differences of opinion about a number of legal issues with the port lease, and these are still unresolved. Rowan McGregor, council's property manager, told the meeting that the port company had offered to pay for the work, with council having some input into design and construction methods. Mr McGregor said the work would be undertaken on an "open textbook" basis. "This will clearly show throughout the process how and where the money is being spent." He said. Cr Dot McKinnon said the legal issues would take some time to resolve "but the port company needs to get on with these repairs". Engineers Bycroft Petherick will shortly start work on a structural analysis of the wharf and sea wall that would show up a number of repair options. This should be finished mid-August. Repair work is then expected to start in September.
