Taxpayers have forked out $3.8 million to remove a flood-damaged restaurant from Brisbane's Bicentennial Bikeway and river after it was damaged in this year's floods.
The structure of the former floating restaurant known as Drift was swept onto the Bicentennial Bikeway during the late February floods.
The state government then enacted special powers to remove the 200-tonne pontoon in late March, under the Queensland Reconstruction Authority Act, which had only been exercised once before following the 2011 floods.
The state government in late March said an independent engineering report had found serious safety issues with the structure, warning "in its current state, the pontoon is considered to be at risk of immediate and sudden collapse".
Workers in April began cutting the structure into several sections in order to remove it from the bikeway.
While the structure blocked the bikeway, Brisbane City Council converted one lane of Coronation Drive into a two-way bikeway and introduced a 40 kilometre per hour speed limit in the area.
The bikeway fully reopened on June 10.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey and Deputy Premier Steven Miles's offices confirmed the cost of the removal.
Mr Bailey said it was a dangerous and difficult operation.
"That's a cost to the state government, if the city council wants to make a contribution we would willingly accept it, given they requested it but we’re absorbing that cost," he said.
Brisbane City Council transport chair Ryan Murphy said it was fantastic Drift had been removed after a decade.
He said the council had paid for the temporary Coronation Drive detour, as well as repairs to the bikeway following the structure's removal.
"In addition, council incurred delays to the commencement of piling works for the Kangaroo Point Green Bridge, by lending the state government our contractor's barges," he said.
"As a result we must politely decline this offer to contribute to the costs of removing Drift restaurant."
The lessee, Brisbane businessman Ken Allsop, told ABC Radio Brisbane in March that he had wanted to reopen the venue.
Speaking today Mr Allsop said he had not been contacted by the state government regarding the cost of the removal, and would not be paying for it.
"I haven't been asked to pay it. They decided to do it, and I wanted to put it back together," he said.
Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) general manager Kell Dillon said the final few piles of the Drift structure were being cut off at bed level to complete the project in the next week.
He said any lessee contribution to the cost was a decision that would likely be subject to legal advice.
"MSQ is unable to provide a detailed breakdown of the costs at this stage," he said.
