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NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has advised that the reopening of Shark Beach in Sydney Harbour’s Nielsen Park will be further delayed due to unforeseen construction challenges and the identification of defects in the finish of some sections.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service closed Shark Beach in Nielsen Park in 2022 after its 100-year-old seawall was damaged in a storm six years earlier.

Reconstruction work was initially due for completion in December 2022, but its reopening has been delayed several times.

In October last year, NPWS advised "adverse weather, the need to remove 3,600 tonnes of asbestos and a termination of the contract with the original construction company" were behind the delays.

While NPWS then suggested works would be completed in June an update published by the department last month advised "while significant progress has been made … once again, inclement weather and showers during the first week of July impacted the progress of works".

NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said the project had taken too long and told ABC "I am one of the many swimmers who is waiting eagerly for the completion of these works.

"This is a project I have inherited and it has taken too long. I have asked the department to fix it as soon as possible."

An NPWS spokesperson said the expected completion date for the Nielsen Park seawall had been revised to a later date.

NSW Public Works are closely monitoring the works program and sequencing of activities to account for impacts resulting from these issues. Based on the current progress and taking into account the challenges described above, completion has been revised to late October 2024.

Nielsen Park at Vaucluse was incorporated into Sydney Harbour National Park in 1975 and was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register in 2018 in recognition of its outstanding natural and cultural landscape, demonstrating a rich and diverse range of uses spanning from Aboriginal occupation to the present.

The major structural works at the western end of the seawall are complete, with several mature native trees transplanted into the new garden beds in mid-August. In total there will be 17 new trees planted along the promenade to replace the 12 trees which were removed early in the project. These new trees will provide much needed shade along the lawn terrace and seating areas.

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