Sand and deliver: Vin McKay, MP David Koch and Department of Sustainability and Environment’s Frances Northeast join Sam and Miah, both nine, to inspect Portarlington’s renourished beach.
By Michelle Herbison
A $500,000 beach renourishment project at Portarlington is complete, State Government has announced.
Member for Western Victoria Region David Koch inspected the beach this week following the successful dumping of 15,000 tonnes of sand.
The Independent reported in March that the project was part of a $2.3 million commitment to “renourishing” four bay beaches this year.
The $9.54 million program aims to protect “high priority” beaches around Port Phillip Bay by dumping them with sand.
A Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesperson said most of the sand dumped at Portarlington was from a quarry but some was from Point Richards.
“Sand built up at Point Richards was used in the Portarlington renourishment. This local sand was supplemented by sand sourced from a quarry through a DSE tendering process to ensure specified high-grade quality sand that complies with EPA standards,” the spokesperson said.
Bellarine Bayside chief executive officer Vin McKay welcomed the new sand.
He said it had widened the area of beach available for summer.
Portarlington Community Association president John Turner thought residents were generally happy with the works.
“It’s State Government-funded, not by Bellarine Bayside, so it’s not money that could’ve gone somewhere else,” he said.
“It’s a great opportunity for more beachfront along there in summer.”
The DSE spokesperson said a similar project at Clifton Springs would begin this year.
Preparation works including design and scoping of an area 800m north-east of the Dell were set to begin “before the busy summer period”.
Contractors would dump sand at Clifton Springs “in early 2013”, the spokesperson said.
