Clarence Valley council has accepted a tender to upgrade the terminal at the Clarence Valley Regional Airport. At last week’s council meeting, a contract valued at $965,850.60, which was awarded to Sunwest Constructions Pty Ltd, was unanimously supported by councillors. The council had previously rejected tenders for the terminal upgrade in April 2015, as they exceeded the budget. New tenders were called for in November. The council’s staff, “in consultation with the project management firm and architects, revised the level of the design and fittings to be provided while still maintaining the over-all requirements of the works”, the report to council states. The terminal upgrade is the final component of the works at the airport. In April this year, councillors also rejected tenders for the runway’s repaving. Subsequently, council staff separated aspects of the airport upgrade works and called for new tenders, which cost around $606,507, resulting in a saving of around $140,000 –the budget was $825,000. The report to last week’s council meeting states: “Council has made savings in the works undertaken to date, which will be applied to the terminal works. “…While there are still some invoices to be finalised on recently completed works (runway sealing), the estimated balance of available funding for the remaining works is $891,000 (GST exclusive).” The terminal building upgrade will include the provision of: an embarkation area; three disabled toilets; a service bay and storage area; an enlarged baggage handling area; a security checking area; and, an 200 square metre extension of the terminal building. The airport’s upgrade was funded by a $1.06million federal government Community Development Grant and $1.06 million from the state government’s Local Infrastructure Renewal Scheme. Councillors authorised the general manager to finalise and clarify “minor outstanding contract issues” with Sunwest Constructions and “to approve any contract variations up to 10 per cent of the contract sum, with a further report to be submitted to council on funding options if the available budget is … exceeded as a result”.