The $800,000 dock replacement job at Roberta Bondar Marina is expected to be complete before the height of the summer boating season begins in July, city officials say.
Tom Vair, the city's deputy chief administrative officer of community development and enterprise services, says the new docks are expected to arrive here sometime between the end of May and mid-June.
"We've estimated about two weeks [after that] to get the docks installed," Vair says, adding that a number of conversations have been held with the supplier of the docks, stressing that the city wants the work done before the busy season.
"We've received commitment from them that they'll be able to accommodate that," he said.
City councillors agreed this past week to single-source the $800,000 finger dock replacement to Poralu Marine Inc. of Saint-Eustache, Quebec, without calling for tenders.
Poralu was low bidder in 2017 on a tender for replacement of the Bondar fuel dock as well as the E and B docks at Bellevue Marina.
It was considered unwise to finish the Bondar job using another manufacturer's dock equipment that might be incompatible.
On March 18, City Council ordered St. Mary's River Marine Heritage Centre to move the M.S. Norgoma out of Bondar Marina by April 15 to allow the dock-replacement project to proceed.
If the volunteer marine heritage centre can't move the boat by that day, the city has served notice that it intends to tow the vessel to the Purvis Dock at Algoma Steel, and forward the $50,000 bill to the volunteer-run marine centre.
Last week, some city councillors expressed concern about the design of the Poralu docks installed at Bellevue Marina and the quality of the installation.
Local boaters have expressed concern about the narrow width of the finger docks and the anchoring, but city officials say the design problems were overcome and won't be repeated at Bondar Marina.