The Venn Street river stop will now be able to be repaired and restored after a tender was agreed upon by the Shire of Collie council.
At the latest council meeting on Tuesday, December 11, councilors voted unanimously to award the tender to SRG Global for a price of $290,000 to restore the weir.
The funding for the project comes from the government’s Local Projects, Local Jobs program and is part of its $250,000 Collie River revitalisation project.
The state government also announced it would provide $40,000 in funding in February last year.
The current weir, built over 40 years ago, requires boards to be added or removed by hand in order to alter water levels, which Shire of Collie chief executive officer David Blurton said was a potential health and safety issue.
The upgrade of the river stop comes as part of the shire’s Collie River Revitalisation Plan 2018 – 2022, which looks at helping to manage water levels of the Collie River and improve its health and amenity.
The new structure will allow levels to be raised and lowered remotely, making it safer.
Two applications were received for a tender, one from Mandurah based company Quality Assured Engineering Contracting and Perth based company SRG Global.
Although Quality Assured Engineering Contracting quoted a lower price, SRG Global were chosen instead, for they demonstrated a greater understanding of the requirements, provided a more in depth design and have similar experience in large projects including bridge and dam building and repair.
Councillors also voted to provide a request to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation for future ongoing testing, to get full understanding of Bio Filtration workings and request a report to be submitted back to the Shire of Collie.
Additionally, council voted to check the correct regulatory body and put in a request to investigate feral fish in the Collie River and bring the findings back to the Weeds and Waterways Advisory Committee.
At the Weeds and Waterways Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, November 22, a letter from the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation stated that the Department of Fisheries or RecFish West would be ideal to contact regarding the feral fish issue, as they had no responsibility inspecting the impact.
