The Waitaki District Council has accepted a $649,401 tender from Fulton and Hogan to construct the 10m-long wall which will link in with a similar structure built recently by Kiwi Rail to protect its goods yard and the Oamaru railway station.
Erosion, exacerbated by heavy seas at the end of May, has been gradually destroying protection work carried out decades ago.
The sea cliff is moving inland towards the historic Freezer Building, associated with the preparation of meat for New Zealand's first frozen-meat shipment from Totara Estate.
Corporate services manager Stephen Halliwell said yesterday the work, which would start as soon as Fulton Hogan had mined suitable rock from an Enfield quarry, was timely.
"The crest of the foreshore face has moved closer to the Freezer Building after big seas at the end of last month.
We need to stop any further erosion before it threatens that building," he said.
The council has resource consent from the Otago Regional Council for the work, which will be funded by a loan repaid 80% by Oamaru ratepayers, with the rest spread over the district's ratepayers.
Penguins using or nesting along that area of foreshore will be protected during the work and moved if necessary.
Once the work is completed, the council will be left with the foreshore south of Oamaru Creek to Holmes Wharf, with erosion cutting into the Department of Conservation penguin reserve.
Protection work on that section, which contains part of Oamaru's Harbour-Tyne Sts historic precinct, is scheduled to be done in 2011-12.
