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In a small suburb of Melbourne’s north, the local government is planning to install a tow system that could one day deliver beachgoers in the south to their destinations.
In a bid to combat the increasing number of beachgoers, South Beach Council is planning a $30 million, three-year project to install four tows at various points along the south coast.
The council has already announced the first of the four will be built on the beach at the southern end of the city, but it is not yet clear if the rest will be located on the same shoreline.
“It’s not a huge amount of money,” council chairwoman and councillor Sally Fong told The Age.
“We have three to four hundred people in the area, we need to see where it takes us.”
“But the council is really excited about it.
We’ve got to make sure it’s safe, it’s good for the environment and we’ve got people who are on the coastline and they’re happy.”
The council is planning the system to deliver four tow lines from its beach to a beachside structure at the end of a line.
It is estimated the system will save up to $1.5 million per year.
Council members are concerned that the project will only be able to deliver a portion of the services it will need to provide to the public.
“We’ll need a long-term infrastructure plan,” council leader Peter McAlpine told the newspaper.
“I think it’s a really good idea, but if we can’t get it done by the end, we’ll have to look at other options.”
“We’re not quite sure what the best option is,” he added.
The city’s Beach Transport and Infrastructure Minister, Scott McGreal, told ABC News the project was being developed in a “consultative process”.
“We don’t want to be seen to be trying to rush it through and we’re looking at what the feasibility and viability of the project are and we’ll work with the council and the government to make that work,” he said.
“So the system is a long way off but we’re in the process of working with them to make it a success.”
