When it comes, the $1 million announced by Premier David Bartlett a fortnight ago will be distributed in two lots over 18 months.

A spokesman for Premier David Bartlett yesterday said that the $1 million one-off payment to tackle the build-up of silt in the estuary would be given to the Launceston Flood Authority to start the job.

But the money would be delivered in instalments between 2010-2012, with the first money not expected for another six weeks.

Mr Bartlett's announcement was welcomed two weeks ago after community lobbying for urgent action on silt build-up that was crippling business and recreational activities on the Tamar estuary.

Local Government Minister Bryan Green had been criticised for suggesting that $400,000 already earmarked in the state budget earlier this year should be used for another study on the silt.

Opposition infrastructure spokesman Rene Hidding urged the government to honour its election promised to provide $2.5 million of the estimated $6.6 million it would cost for a major dredging operation that would clear the build-up from recent drought years.

A special three-man government review committee chaired by Rosevears MLC Kerry Finch said that a statutory authority should be set up to oversee an ongoing dredging campaign once the build-up had been cleared.