The Yamba sewerage augmentation project is now complete and has come in close to $7 million under the original cost estimates. The total cost of the project, which was completed at the end of June, was $43.3 million – 14% below the original cost estimate of $50.4 million. Clarence Valley Council general manager, Scott Greensill, said that for the project to be delivered so far below budget was a fantastic achievement and a tribute to everyone involved in the project. “I would particularly like to thank the Yamba Water Recycling Management Committee, which later became a project reference group,” he said. “Their involvement has helped ensure the views of the community were taken into account at all times and its members made many great suggestions that helped bring costs down. “The under-budget completion of this project shows council is well equipped to manage and deliver major projects. In the term of this current council we completed the Iluka sewerage scheme, built the Sir Earle Page Library and Education Centre and now the multi-million Yamba sewerage augmentation all well under estimates.” Mr Greensill said it was a long road from the start of planning for the Yamba sewerage project to completion, but that helped ensure nothing was left to chance. “Planning for the scheme started in the early 1990s,” he said. “Even then there was recognition the existing plant struggled to cope with the peak load in holiday seasons. “The initial scheme, built in 1973, was able to cope with a load equivalent to that made by 7400 people. The system now has the capacity to meet the load equivalent to 17,200 people. “It has removed a significant constraint to Yamba’s development.” A function to recognise the contributions of the management committee was held in Yamba last week.