A sod-turning ceremony will take place next month for a planned commemorative walkway between the War Memorial on North Terrace and the Torrens Parade Ground – even though plans for the project are still under wraps.

The symbolic event, effectively kick-starting the project, will take place ahead of Anzac Day – which this year marks the centenary of Australian troops landing at Gallipoli – despite legislation required for the building works still to go before parliament, which doesn’t sit again till May 5.

It’s understood cabinet was updated on the project at a community cabinet meeting in the mid-north yesterday.

Veterans Affairs Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith told InDaily there would still need to be a formal cabinet submission, as “there will probably be some legislation required over the course of making it all happen”.

That’s because the boundary of Government House is established under the Government House Domain Dedication Act, and it’s believed the eastern wall will need to be shifted.

“We’re just planning out exactly how we’re going to go through the whole project,” said Hamilton-Smith.

“Some legislative aspects of it just need to be addressed (but) I’m not wanting to make any statements about it today, because we’ll be announcing that further down the track.”

However, the ongoing lack of detail has frustrated some in the veteran community, who feel the Government has missed the opportunity to recognise the significance of this year’s Centenary of Anzac.

The minister had publicly flagged that a government website detailing plans for the anniversary – http://www.anzaccentenary.sa.gov.au/ – would go live on March 25, however as of today it remains under construction, with a notice informing visitors the site “is currently in active development and will be live soon”.

“That will be likely to be this coming Thursday,” the minister assured InDaily.

“We postponed that by one week for a range of reasons … We’ve put together a very good website that spells out the key events and timelines of the four year period; it’s fairly impressive but fairly complex.”

Martin Hamilton-Smith meets members of the Jamestown RSL in the mid-north yesterday. Photo: Twitter.

Veterans advocate Ian Smith says the walkway has been discussed for a decade and “all that time the Labor Government has been in power”.

“They’ve done some good things for the veteran community … but on the Centenary of Anzac they’re missing in action at the moment,” he said.

“The reality is the Centenary of Anzac is this year … We still haven’t had any consultation about this decision, and we’re 25 days out from Anzac Day.”

He said he was on the Veterans’ Advisory Council in 2010 when it outlined its 10 priorities for this year’s Centenary of Anzac, with the Commemorative Walk assigned top priority.

“They could have signed up to it then and it would have been built at 2010 prices, and we’d be able to have it ready to go on Anzac Day,” he said.

“It’s disappointing … We were ahead of the game and now we’re behind the other states, because they’ve delivered their Centenary of Anzac projects in most cases, and we don’t even know what ours is officially yet.

“We don’t know what the plans are … we’re not getting much of an idea of what the Government thinks.”

But Hamilton-Smith insists the memorial “was never intended to be opened on Anzac Day 2015”, with his stated preference to mark the centenary of the campaign over four years, with a focus on regional centres whose then-residents fought in key World War One battles.

“The Government only announced (the walkway) a year ago (on January 30, 2014) … These things take a bit of time to sort out and that’s all in hand,” he said, explaining that the project involved widespread negotiation with the Commonwealth, the Adelaide City Council and veteran groups.

“There’s quite a lot going on … we had to ensure that veterans were pretty involved in the design,” he said.

“A lot of people need to have ownership of this … We’re not in a rush; we want to get it right.”