The St Helena Bay harbour on the West Coast is getting a face lift.
It is one of twelve small fishing harbours in the Western Cape that have been identified to attract long term investment to support communities.
And despite lockdown, the maintenance and upgrades to small harbours
continues as part of Operation Phakisa, to promote and sustain economic growth within the communities they serve.
A spokesperson for Guerrini Construction, Robert Bower, says silt and debris on t he sea bed is currently hampering the utilisation of the harbour by fishing boats
"The boats can't enter the harbour because it's not usable so our contract is cleaning up the harbours.
it's part of the Phakisa project and it was initially taking out the derelict and fishing boats that have sunk in the barbours and another phase is now dredging." Site supervisor, Danie Saayman, says the main aim for this operation is to get clearance underneath the boats so it doesn't get damaged while getting
to the jetties "We are just deepening the harbour to three and a half metres." Commercial divers, working in teams of two, brave the icy cold water for four hours at a time using suction pumps to dredge the harbour floor of silt and sand.
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