Harbour upgrade contract to Beca

All going well, work on upgrading and extending Avatiu harbour should begin in the latter half of 2010.
Ports Authority CEO Bim Tou advised the Times on Thursday morning that the project is still expected to be completed by December 2012 despite losing four months during the selection process for the principal contractor as ADB approval was required.
He said on 18 December 2009 the contract was signed for the main consultants design and supervision company Beca International Ltd of Auckland, NZ.
Beca are presently mobilizing a Geo-Tech team from Auckland who will arrive at the end of the month to conduct test drilling of various sites in the harbour especially the western side of the channel where it will be widened by 10m.
Beca are the principal contractors and they are preparing tender documents for the subcontracting of other work some of which will involve the use of specialized equipment not available locally.

Tou said the western side will be widened by 10m. The present wharf will be straightened to provide a straight line key face some 270m long. This length will enable some of the smaller cruise ships such as the Tahitian Princess to tie up alongside.
The harbour depth will be dredged from its present depth of 5.8m to 8m. During this dredging process, some 100,000 cubic metres of material will be removed. Tou said this material will be suitable for use on roading and in the building industry. Sale of the material will enable the Ports Authority to recover some of its construction costs.
The Ports Authority has stipulated that local labour is to be used unless the work or equipment needed is so specialized and unavailable locally that outside labour has to brought in.
The patrol boat will lose its berthage spot as a larger turning circle will be required. Where the patrol boat will be moored in future is not known at this stage.
Harbour side, the far shed near the wharf side is to be re-located behind the adjacent shed at the end of the wharf. This will leave a large open area for parking containers and also for tourist buses and business vendors to be located when cruise ships tie up along side. There are no plans yet for permanent facilities to cater for cruise passengers or vendors.
Tou said the total cost of the project is around US$18m with US$15.5m being by way of a loan and the remainder provided by our government.
Of the US$15.5m loan money, he said there will be a first loan of US$6.8m from the ADB. This is in the nature of a soft loan fixed in US currency. The interest rate will be fixed at 1.5 per cent and structured over 32 years with a grace period of 8 years. The balance or second loan said Tou, will be a commercial loan at commercial rates known as a OCR loan-Other Currency Resources. It will be structured over 25 years with a grace period of 5 years. This loan may be in another currency other than US dollars. It provides the flexibility of utilizing a better exchange rate when converted to NZ dollars.

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