The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality says refurbishment at Shark Rock Pier is expected to be completed by September.
The popular Port Elizabeth landmark at Hobie Beach has been off limits to the public since mid April as it undergoes much needed maintenance.
Roland Williams of the Metro says the second phase of the upgrade to the pier is currently underway.
"We are very anxious to make sure that the pier gets refurbished as soon as possible. We just need to make sure we go through the motions in terms of the procurement process, so that's what is being done. There weren't really hiccups in the procurement process, it just takes a lot longer than what we expected. I want to stress because we deal with taxpayers money we have to make sure we follow a proper procurement process." says Williams.
Meanwhile, Bill Emslie of AfriCoast Consulting Engineers says despite the perceived lull in work at the pier, there has been a lot of work going on off-site.
"The contractors stripped all the hand railing off and a lot of the work is actually being done off site. The perception of the public there is that there's a delay in construction which is not the case. This is the first major rehab that is being done at the moment and in fact to date there has been refurbishment done on the concrete structure itself. we did inspect the concrete structure and it was found to be in a reasonably sound condition." says Emslie.
