Lake Moana-nui work begins

Work at Lake Moana-nui is set to start within the week and will be complete by July. The project has had a few delays, including the processing of resource consents.

More recently, once the lake was completely emptied, the sheer volume of accumulated silt was able to be assessed accurately, and project costs increased to $980,000. As a result of this cost increase, the project went back to Council for further discussion.

Three options were available to Council:

• Doing the job properly with the increased price tag ($980,000).
• Not doing the lake restoration project. Instead doing landscaping and shaping to return the area to a grass reserve with a stream. This would have cost $700,000.
• Doing only part of the work to remain within the initial cost estimate ($630,000). However due to the volume of silt needing to be removed this would not have given a substantial improvement.

"Council agrees with the community about the importance of Lake Moana-nui and we acknowledge the community's support and patience," said Council's Chief Executive, Craig Hobbs. "We too are looking forward to seeing Lake Moana-nui return to its former glory!" ends words: 190