Mirage becomes reality !

For thirty years the proposed " Marina " centrepiece of Shellharbour's Shell Cove development has been an " on again " - " off again " vision that has both enticed and worried those who have bought building land in anticipation of water views.    Now a construction contract has been signed and delivered.

Coastwide Civil has been awarded a $ 150 million tender to construct a boat harbour that will be slightly bigger than Sydney's famed " Darling Harbour " entertainment precinct.  It will take five to eight years to bring it to fruition, but the turning of the first sod is about to happen.

The creation of the city of Shellharbour was a natural extension of Wollongong city when the population of the Illawarra needed somewhere to grow.   Wollongong was locked in between the escarpment and the sea and the only logical building land was to it's south.   The village of Shellharbour became a town, and from there a natural progression took it to city status.    This was a new city that badly needed a focal point - and the city fathers had a vision of a vast marina serving that purpose.

It has been a long, hard slog.   Finance has always been the main limitation. The nay sayers have opposed going into debt to create the attraction that would be serviced by building expansion on it's surrounding land. It looked set to go and then the WFC hit in 2008 and that saw the plans being put back on the shelf for several years.

The Australian population seems set to expand into new dimensions during this twenty-first century.  It seems inevitable that the overflow from Sydney will see both the Illawarra and the Hunter develop to secondary metropolis status.  It seems inevitable that this new marina will become an iconic suburb with similar status and value to that of Sydney's famed eastern shoreline.

With population growth comes the need for infrastructure.   The day is fast coming when governments will be forced to act on our transport needs.   In particular, the need for a modern rail link with Sydney will become over powering.   It will cost big money to create the tunnels to achieve a high speed link but survival is not tenable using a steam age line that takes a minimum of ninety minutes to travel a mere eighty kilometres.

This marina contract is the first start in big things to come !