LAND RECLAMATION

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 118, 12 February 1940, Page 5

LAND RECLAMATION

Otago Harbour Board’s Scheme FILLING IN OF 30 ACRES Dominion Special Service. DUNEDIN, February 10. The task of reclaiming a further 30 acres of the Southern Endowment lias been begun by the Otago Harbour Board. The first step in the big undertaking is the construction .of a mud wall 10ft. to 12ft. high across the higher portion of Ihe tidal basin from tlie western reclaimed area to Ihe Portobello highway, and at present a large crane with a grab-bucket is engaged in heaping up spoil to form a retaining wall. At the same time, work is proceeding on one of the major drainage works undertaken by the .Dunedin Drainage Board, and when this is completed the stormwater from tlie flat areas of South Dunedin will be discharged into the harbour in a new and more effective manner. A Big Undertaking. Though there are about 100 acres to be reclaimed in the tidal basin east of the area already filled in, the harbour board is reclaiming only 30 acre's at present, so that it will cause the drainage board no inconvenience in the matter of storm-water drains which at present discharge into the half-tide basin. The 30 acres will provide the board with; a sufficient area for the dumping of harbour spoil to meet its requirements for some years to come. By that time the drainage scheme will probably have been completed and the reclaiming of the remainder of the basin can then be carried out without causing the drainage board any concern. , The 45 acres that were reclaimed some years ago have settled down well, and this area will be ready for building on in a short time. The ground is hardening up satisfactorily and should provide excellent building sites. There was once a proposal to use this area as an aerodrome, but the proposal was rejected in favour of the North Taieri ground. Under a new scheme all the storm water from Tainui, St. Kilda and South Dunedin will concentrate at the corner of the Anderson's Bay and Portobello roads, and eventually will be pumped into the harbour from a pumping slation at the southern endowment wall near the Anderson's Bay inlet.