A way forward has, apparently, been identified by the contractor, the consultant engineers and a team from specialist firm Albion Drilling which could see the work completed by this September.

The three parties met in Rothesay earlier this month and agreed a way forward for the installation of ground anchors around the edges of the inner harbour, after a stand-off between Balfour Beatty and Scott Wilson Scotland over how best to do the work saw things stop altogether for several weeks.

A briefing note from Argyll and Bute Council principal engineer Peter Ward, project manager for the Rothesay works, states that ground anchor installation was now scheduled to begin on Monday, April 28, while dredging of the inner harbour should start in mid-June and be completed a month later.

Work at the front of the pier, where the old side-loading linkspan was located, should be complete by mid-July - but it is hoped the work will be far enough advanced to allow Caledonian MacBrayne to return to using the pier as an overnight berth within the next week.

The paddle steamer Waverley should also be able to use that part of the pier when she makes her first Rothesay call of the year on the rather inauspicious date of Friday, June 13.

Meanwhile, once the dredging of the inner harbour is complete, new yachting pontoons should be installed there by the middle of August.

The Cabbies' Rest shelter which was formerly located next to the Esplanade gardens should be re-erected on the mid pier at around the same time, with the whole project scheduled for completion by Monday, September 4.

One proviso is that pedestrian access to Caledonian MacBrayne's ferries may at first have to be via a temporary bridge between the mid pier and the terminal building, rather than the permanent structure first envisaged.

The work has been plagued by delays, disruption and unexpected setback almost since the day it began, though island councillor Len Scoullar said this week: "I'm not trying to excuse the council in any way, but we have had a lot of the blame over this, and I don't think a lot of it is justified - the council did everything that was asked of it.

"The sooner we can get Balfour Beatty finished and off the site, the better."