One individual and 10 firms think they can sort out the St Clair sea wall problems.
The Dunedin City Council sent invitations to firms around the country late last week seeking expressions of interest from those who believed they had the skills to assess the structural integrity of the damaged sea wall and come up with a long-term plan for keeping beach sand in front of it.
It had received 11 expressions of interest by yesterday.
The applications will be assessed by senior council managers and engineers within the next few days, with the expectation one or two consultants will be chosen by next week.
Council roading maintenance engineer Peter Standring said the work could potentially all be done by one firm or person, but it might be that none had the right skills for both jobs.
In the meantime, paving continues to collapse into sinkholes that first appeared in the Esplanade on May 26, as work to prevent the sea wall supporting the walkway from being further undermined in heavy seas nears its end.
Mr Standring said it might come as a relief to residents along the edge of dunes to the east of the wall to know that all the rocks needed - about 1800 tonnes - had been placed along the sea wall in front of the St Clair Surf Life Saving Club and the South Coast Boardriders Association club rooms.
About 10m of sheet-piling was still to be installed about 3m deeper than the wall's base along its front and contractors continued to pour concrete between the sea wall and the sheet piles to help stabilise the area.
It was hoped that work would be completed by Saturday and the relevant machinery would no longer need to access the beach at all hours, he said.
Once that work was done, attention would turn to filling in the sinkholes.
Specialists would need to assess over the next few days how best to go about that and whether the holes needed to be filled in immediately to support the wall, or whether that could wait until the consultants assessing the integrity of the wall had made their report.
City councillor Colin Weatherall this week asked council staff to report to councillors on what was happening, as they were receiving queries from constituents.
Council transport operations manager Tony Avery told him councillors would be updated, but there was not a lot extra to report until a consultant had been appointed and advised the council on the state of the wall and the long-term options.
