Shute Harbour Jetty’s Days Are Numbered

Ageing infrastructure at Shute Harbour is costing the Whitsunday Regional Council up to $300,000 per year.

This is the reason for the action taken at today’s council meeting which will pave the way for the demolition of the Lloyd Roberts and South Molle Jetties.

Council adopted a resolution that will see the company Cardno Ullman and Nolan project manage, assess tenders and apply for permits before reporting back to council, who will then assess the tender process.

Since the tourism operators Cruise Whitsundays left Shute Harbour to occupy Port of Airlie in 2014 there has been a limited revenue stream generated by the facility. Councillor Dave Clark asked a question about the cost of repairing the jetty, versus the demolition, which is estimated at this early stage, to cost “hundreds of thousands” of dollars.

The response from Chief Financial Officer Matthew McGoldrick was: “to repair the facility would be about $2.5 million”. Mr McGoldrick said a peer review of the GHD assessment concluded there would be “no value” in repairing the facility.

Council are also exploring their options for a change to freehold title of the top car parking area at Shute Harbour.