Pier pressure on state for $15m project help

Andrew Mathieson
STATE Government should pay $15 million to redevelop a burnt down Geelong pier after ignoring it for more than two decades, according to stakeholders behind the project.
Geelong councillor Stretch Kontelj said state money spent on a new Yarra Street marina would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Geelong.
“It will attract visitors and also stimulate private investment expenditure following the model we used to redevelop the whole waterfront,” Cr Kontelj said.
Both the previous Kennett Government and Geelong’s council jointly funded a $25 million refurbishment program for Geelong’s waterfront.
Cr Kontelj said the investment had generated in excess of $400 million in the past decade, “not to mention how many tens of millions of tourist dollars”.
Councillors have demanded the state tip in the bulk of funding for the $22.4 million project costs.
They presented a funding wishlist including the pier project to State Government last month during the community cabinet meetings at Torquay and Grovedale.
City Hall has promised about $5 million for the project, while Royal Geelong Yacht Club has pledged almost $2.5 million.
Cr Kontelj said the Government was obliged to contribute because Geelong no longer had a public pier.
“There has been no investment on pier infrastructure in the Geelong region since this pier was burnt down in 1988,” he said.
“It would be timely given there hasn’t been State Government investment on piers in the Geelong area in living memory, to be honest.”
Royal Geelong Yacht Club commodore John Kint backed council’s pier proposal.
He said a pier and associated marina complex was the “right move for everybody, not just the yacht club”.
“Having the pier there with the breakwater will allow boats completely outside of the yacht club access to that pier because there are boats not coming to Geelong because they have nowhere to park,” he said.
A spokesperson for Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings refused to speculate on whether the Government could commit funds to the public pier proposal.
The spokesperson pointed out that Geelong already had public access to privately-owned Cunningham Pier nearby.
The Brumby Government had already committed more than $7 million in upgrades and maintenance to three piers around the Bellarine Peninsula, the spokesperson said.
The level of support for the project would depend upon demand, community benefit, jobs and investment from “potential partners”, he said.