Nihinihi residents had been hoping that Nihinihi Avenue would be reopened on 26 May as promised a few weeks ago by Waikato District Council General Manager Service Delivery Tim Harty. Instead now the footpath has been blocked as well as the road. The road was closed to allow for work on the Marine Parade sewage pumping station and holding tanks on 15 February.
The closure of the footpath came after contractors removed steel sheet piling from around the site. One Raglander said this appeared to cause a collapse of the bank around area. There was no work on the project over the weekend.
The $289,000 project to install sewage holding tanks was originally due for completion on the 15th April. A month into the project the Council announced a major issue at the Marine Parade Pump station on Friday 25th March saying the main inlet pipe to the pump station had collapsed. As a result of this untreated wastewater entered the Harbour. A boating, swimming and seafood gathering ban was put in place. These were all lifted progressively by the end of April.