Survey work underway on Opotiki harbour project

Over the coming weeks, boats and drones will be taking accurate measurements and carrying out crucial survey work to finalise work plans for the build of Ōpōtiki's Harbour entrance.

Ōpōtiki harbour Project Manager, John Galbraith, said that together, the survey work will provide the most up-to-date data for construction planning of the harbour entrance in the coming months

"We are working with engineering consultants, Tonkin + Taylor and the marine survey team at DML to get the most up-to-date mapping of the river and sea floor where the entrance will be constructed in the coming months.

"The boat is fairly visible from Ōpōtiki and it will be busy over the coming days whenever weather permits, tracking back and forth building an accurate map of the sea floor and estuary bed.

"In addition to the boat, we'll also have specialist drones carrying out survey work on the river profiles.

"These UAVs [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles] will be quite visible to the residents in the area so before that work starts, we'll arrange a bit of a flyer drop so people know who to contact if they have any questions or concerns and to reassure people that the drones have permission to fly over public land and the river and are only recording information related to river profiles," Mr Galbraith said.

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Read more about drones in the Ōpōtiki District.