THE $30 million reconstruction of Vuna Wharf in Nuku'alofa has been completed 77 days ahead of schedule, and is now ready to be commissioned and to welcome the first cruise ship visit in early 2012.

Charles Nepia, the Project Engineer for the Nuku'alofa Reconstruction Project, told Matangi Tonga Online yesterday, December 13, that the wharf construction was completed on November 21, 2011, 77 days ahead of the contract completion date that was initially set for February 6, 2012.

"The construction work on the Vuna Wharf is now complete, including the installation of wharf furniture such as the bollards, fenders and navigation lights," he said.

The wharf contractor Fletcher Construction, was currently in the process of demolishing workstations from the site, and expected to have most of its equipment removed by the end of this week.

“We are completing the planning and work for the opening and inaugural cruise ship visit that will be held before March, 2012," he said.

The wharf is part of the Nuku'alofa CBD Reconstruction Project, financed with $118 million pa'anga loan from China and expected to be fully completed in March, 2012.

Project

Charles said the new Vuna Wharf included a new deck build-up area of 1.421 square metres, and utilized 5,120 metres of steel tubular piles, with 4,158 square metres volume of concrete, 695 tonnes of quantity steel reinforcement, and 563 pieces of pre-cast concrete elements.

Vuna Wharf has four mooring dolphins, 10 fenders and 14 bollards.

He also said there were also some approach works to complete, including the installation of ISPS security requirements undertaken by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). Given the access requirements to the wharf, the work was scheduled following the wharf completion, he said.

The Vuna Wharf reconstruction project started on August 6, 2010, with the actual construction beginning in September 2010 after three months of mobilization.

The main contractor was CCECC, with Fletcher Construction as wharf sub contractor and Beca International as the wharf design engineer.

There were 70 local workers, and a Project Team staff consisting of six workers from New Zealand and Fiji.

The wharf is an open-piled concrete structure and the piles are driven to an approximate depth of 18 to 25m with a designated embedment into the target rock strata.

Central business district

Charles said two buildings remained under construction in the Nuku'alofa CBD Reconstruction Project. They are the Free Wesleyan Church's Tungi Arcade and the City Assets Building (Molisi Tonga) set for completion in early 2012.

In regards to the Parliamentary Committee that was formed on July this year to inquiry and produce a report on how the Nuku'alofa Development Corporation NDC administered and spent a $118 million pa'anga loan from China on the reconstruction of central Nuku'alofa, Charles said that their office had met with members of the committee and they had cooperated happily with their queries and requests for information. "We await the outcome of their inquiry in due course," he said.

When the Vuna Wharf Project was first announced by the former Government in June 2010, it was expected to attract 66 to 100 cruise ships a year to Nuku'alofa.