Specialist engineers have been on site at Ross River Dam as part of the next stage of the upgrade which includes the design and installation of gates on the spillway.

NQ Water last month announced that a consortium made up of consulting engineers GHD and MWH will deliver the detailed design of works for the five stage upgrade of the dam.

The team inspected the site in preparation for stage two, which will reinstate the capacity of the dam to 219,000 megalitres.

It has a strong New Zealand presence including engineers Tony Pickford, Peter Foster and Peter Robinson.

They were joined by United States based gate specialist Chander Sehgal and overall design team leader, Jon Williams.

NQ Water’s Manager of Engineering Services, Rob Saunders, said they were among the best engineers of their type in the world.

"The safety and well being of the people of Townsville and Thuringowa is our first priority," Mr Saunders said.

"To that end, the process of calling tenders for the work has been exhaustive.

"The fact that members of the dam design team are sourced from a number of different countries shows we are not leaving anything to chance."

"Not only is the GHD-MWH consortium the most capable and technically proficient, it is also cost competitive."
The gates are scheduled to be in place in the early stages of construction.

The upgrade is one of the largest civil works ever undertaken in the region and is due for completion by mid-2008. The cost, expected to be between $60m and $90m, is two thirds funded by the Queensland Government.

Stage one of the works was completed late last year and saw the spillway lowered by 3.6 metres.