The $2,684,655 contract was awarded to Harlow Construction Ltd., based in Shelburne, Canada. Work will begin on the project this week, company president Rob Harlow said Tuesday. It is hoped it will be completed by the end of September.

The project will see more than 80,000 tonnes of rock hauled to the site. Two breakwaters will be constructed, totalling about 400 metres in length.

“It’s an existing crib structure wharf, but it’s deteriorating,” Harlow said. “So this is the beginning of a new harbour development.”

“We’re basically just trying to build a harbour within a harbour. That’s what they do now with a lot of these places to protect them well."

Harlow took on a similar project with the same dollar value last year at Falls Point in Woods Harbour. "These will be the two biggest jobs that we’ve taken on as a small company,” he said, noting the work is part of Ottawa’s stimulus spending aimed at combating the recession.

The company does site excavation and house lot developments. It builds roadways, on-site septic systems and digs wells. The company also supplies ready-mix concrete.

Lower Sandy Point, on the eastern side of Shelburne Harbour, is home port to boats involved in the lobster and tuna fisheries, and True World Foods Inc. of Canada, a British Columbia-based company that buys and sells fish products.

Subcontractors B & G Lombard Ltd., from Saulnierville, and R.J. MacIsaac Construction Ltd. of Antigonish will work on the project.