Council is asking people to respect the cordoning off of the new Bombo staircase for a couple of more weeks, after it has been used prematurely by some walkers.

“We need to keep people off until the project is officially handed over to Council,” says Director of Infrastructure & Livability, Michael Malone.

“I know that will be disappointing, as it looks ready to use.

“We just need to give the contractor the opportunity to tick off everything so they can hand us back the completed product. Then we can tell the public it is ok to use.”

Some have already accessed the stairs on finding barriers at the top and bottom were removed, but the barriers have now been reinstalled given the risks associated with using the stairs before they are fully in Council’s hands.

The view from the top of the stairs

The $500,000 plus concrete and steel project was first funded by the State Government in 2018, and was slow getting off the ground even before the contractor was appointed and had to battle floods, COVID and building supply shortages.

“The community has seen this going up for nearly three years now, and it has certainly been a challenging project for the contractor,” says Mr Malone.

“Every time the seas came up, every time it rained, the bottom end of their job was saturated and had to be shut down.

“They are almost there. Once they have handed it back to us and we’ve accepted it is all correct, we will be announcing it is open and the contractor will be allowed to take away their two fence panels.

Bombo Headland is already a destination because of its spectacular scenery and global geological significance, and the staircase is expected to make it a must do section of the Kiama Coast Walk.

A decision is yet to be made on its name.