Dredging facts
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Photo: The CoZa. Courtesy of PoMC.
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| The Victorian and Commonwealth governments approved the Channel Deepening Project in December 2007.
Dredging of Port Phillip Bay's existing shipping channels began on 8 February 2008 and is scheduled to end by late August 2009.
The Project involves deepening the existing shipping channels within Port Phillip Bay from the Entrance to the Port of Melbourne, to accommodate ships with a draught of up to 14 metres at all tides.
It also involves additional works, such as dredging around ship berths and works to protect services that cross the shipping channels.
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Dredging will take place in four areas:
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1. The Yarra River and Williamstown Channels (in the Yarra River and Hobsons Bay);
2. The Port Melbourne Channel (in the north of the bay);
3. The South Channel (in the south of the bay); and
4. The Entrance to the bay.
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The Port of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC) is the proponent or owner of the Project.
In Victoria, the Project is regulated by the Secretary of DSE with the Ministers for Roads and Ports, and for Environment and Climate Change having final decision making authority.
For the Commonwealth, the Secretary of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, and the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts have regulatory responsibilities for matters of national environmental significance.
Victorian approvals of the Project required that the Office of the Environmental Montior be established to ensure the Project received the scrutiny it required.
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