Water park will help liven up CBD
REVITALISING Darwin’s CBD. It’s going to be easier said than done. The vibrancy of the city is up to everyone — if you feel it needs livening up, crochet-bomb some trees or learn to play the spoons and start busking.
The issue of a drab city centre does seem to nag at the government of the day more than other stakeholders, and for good reason. They have the means to get things done.
We have to hand it to the Gunner Government — lately ministers are talking about an awful lot of projects and even seem to be committing money to quite a few.
A feasibility study into a water park in the city is an excellent idea, and an actual water park would be even better. Despite the economic downturn and tradies leaving town in droves, people are still moving to the Top End from other places (mostly Down South) and they expect Darwin to live up to its name as a city.
We need to offer more if we want people to continue to see this place as an attractive tourist destination and somewhere they want to raise their families.
To get things moving we need two things: innovative proposals from government and open-minded Territorians.
It is up to us to make the Territory Greater.
THE brewing battle between Western Sydney in NSW and the Greater Shepparton region in Victoria to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games has piqued my interest.
It got me thinking about two things – bidding for the Commonwealth Games in Darwin and the Parap Pool swimming redevelopment.
Firstly, I wonder how many people remember, or even know, that the Northern Territory once put in a proposal to win the right to be the Australian city to bid to host the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
The economic benefits and stimulus for the construction industry would have been beyond belief but the bold and audacious plan was always hard pressed for success, given the clout of its main rival, Melbourne. We finished third to Melbourne and history shows that during the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Victoria was awarded the Games.
Darwin’s ambitious pitch was led by the late Roger Vale, who was not only a sports fanatic but was appropriately the Sports Minister in the Perron CLP government and the Member for Braitling from 1983 to 1994.
Tasked with drawing up the proposal was the then chief executive of Sport and Recreation, Matti Urvett, who based the Territory’s pitch around the Marrara sporting complex, which in the main provided a one-location site for most Games sports.
Sailing and rowing of course could not be accommodated there but the cycling velodrome site was just down the road and there was a nearby lawn bowls club all identified as suitable for redevelopment.
Missing from the Marrara complex was an international aquatic centre to host diving and swimming.
This brings me to my second thought, the multi-million dollar Parap Pool redevelopment.
Why is this happening at the inner city suburb of Parap and not the Marrara sporting complex?
The Parap Pool redevelopment is lost opportunity.
It lacks vision and you have to question the strategic thinking that went into putting the facility away from where most potential users are.
For the life of me I cannot understand why those who came up with this idea did not see all the benefits that an International Swimming Federation (FINA) compliant complex at Marrara would have offered them.
It has thousands of readymade sporting customers.
An international swimming complex is the one glaring omission from the Marrara sporting complex.
Goodness knows there is ample land there still to ac- commodate it. On the Darwin City Council’s website it says the new Parap Pool has been designed to be the location for regional, NT and national swimming competitions in Darwin.
It says the construction program will deliver a 50m pool, a 25m program pool, new office, entry, kiosk/cafe, user amenities and limited dry and zero depth wet play experiences by the project completion date of December 2017.
Major community elements such as wet and dry leisure areas within the Parap Pool Masterplan will be completed in future phases as budget allows.
The redeveloped Parap Pool will be a facility for recreational and leisure use, catering for all members of the community and swimmers of all abilities.
The new facility will be FINA complaint and therefore our city will be on the national map for swimming compe- titions, training and events.
The website stresses that for the majority of its use, the pool will function as a community recreation facility.
If that is the case why build it where there is such a small population hub.
One of the biggest problems the Parap Pool has faced in the past is its obscure location, well away from the major population base of the northern suburbs.
Building it at Marrara would have made far more sense. It would have a ready made clientele.
Let’s look at which sports are accommodated at the Marrara sports complex. Aussie Rules, soccer, basketball, netball, cricket, athletics, squash, hockey, rugby union, rugby league, BMX, shooting and tennis is coming.
If I have missed a sporting group, I apologise.
This is thousands of daily users in the Marrara complex – men, women and children. FAMILIES!
Every single one of these users is a potential client for an international aquatic centre and I haven’t even touched on the hundreds of people that work at the airport precinct and the thousands from the nearby suburbs.
The bus route that goes along McMillians Road to the city offers further financial opportunity for an international aquatic centre at Marrara. Think park-and-ride.
There is room for this, too. Divert the bus route into Marrara and think how many workers would seize on the opportunity to leave their car at the park-and-ride, get a few exercise laps under their belt and hop on the bus and head to work.
And they could do the same after work.
The international aquatic
“It (the Parap Pool redevelopment) lacks vision and you have to question the strategic thinking that went into putting the facility away from where most potential users are.”