Bega MP Andrew Constance made the announcement in front of an appreciative audience at Saturday nights Eden Business and Community Awards at the Seahorse Inn.

Along with $9million for the attenuator on top of the previously announced $10million Mr Constance also said the NSW government would fund a Welcome Centre at the Port of Eden to complement the work extending the breakwater for larger cruise ships.

It was thought this would cost between $4-5million.

From our perspective, it takes the state governments commitment to the Port of Eden to $55million, Mr Constance confirmed on Wednesday, August 15.

Mr Constance said the Welcome Centre would be the home of the Port Authority as the anchor tenant, but provide space for Cruise Eden volunteers and cruise day stallholders to showcase the region regardless of weather.

Theres no point spending almost $40million to bring in the boats and then not have the facilities to welcome visitors properly this is a fantastic result, he said.

Mr Constance said the centre would hopefully be ready by the start of the 2019/20 cruise season.

On top of the $32million contribution towards the breakwater wharf extension and $4million for the welcome centre, Mr Constance said he would also give the green light to the full cost for a wave attenuator.

In June, the Magnet reported there had been some suggestion the final attenuator design would require $19million to construct.

At that stage $10million had been committed and a further $1.5m flagged in the state budget for the 2018/19 financial year.

Now it appears the total expected construction cost will be covered by the state government.

Initial work on the attenuator was expected to get underway this week, with geotechnical boreholes drilled from a jack-up barge, that work expected to take about three weeks.

Rob Bain from the Port of Eden Marina group said he had been in close discussions with the project team and understood construction would begin in January and take around 12 months meaning it would be ready roughly around the same time as the welcome centre.