CONSTRUCTION will begin this week on a long-awaited new jetty on the cyclone-battered shores of Mission Beach, almost two years after the town's last jetty was destroyed by cyclone Yasi.

The Clump Point jetty is one of several huge marine infrastructure projects under way in the Far North, with work resuming on a replacement jetty at Dunk Island this month, and a $12 million State Government grant announced yesterday to help construction of vital sea walls in the Torres Strait.

The two Cassowary Coast jetties are crucial for reviving the area's struggling tourism industry, providing the departure point to local resort islands and the Barrier Reef.

"(The Clump Point) jetty offers the Cassowary Coast region the opportunity to regain favour as the closest, prettiest departure point on the coast to these spectacular areas as tourism rebuilds," Cr Alister Pike said.

Meanwhile, the State Government yesterday said it would match the $12 million committed by the Commonwealth in June to rebuild decrepit sea walls in the Torres Strait.

The walls are urgently needed to help protect low-lying parts of six Torres Strait islands which are flood-prone during king tides.

The situation is so critical on some of the islands that graves in a low-lying cemetery have been washed away by tidal flooding.

"The sea walls will help protect some of the essential public infrastructure built in low-lying areas in recent years," Local Government Minister David Crisafulli said yesterday.

Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said the Member for Cook, David Kempton, deserved credit for putting the issue on the LNP Government's agenda after years of political back-and-forth between state and federal powers.

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