Community
11 December, 2024
Making a splash at Port
A $3.3 million contract to build the much-anticipated splash park at Port Douglas has been awarded to Brisbane-based J. Mac Constructions.
The council will defer $1.72m from capital works projects to help pay for the park which has also received funding of $1.5 million from the state government.
Work on the water park near Four Mile Beach behind Port Douglas Surf Club is scheduled to start in March. The playground at Jalunbu Park behind Surfy Bistro will include a nature-themed splash park with a 400sq m splash pad, new footpaths, picnic shelters, a barbecue area and a carpark upgrade.
The contract was approved at last week’s council meeting with Mayor Lisa Scomazzon saying: “It’s quite exciting to have this finally happening.”
“I think the community will be happy once this is finished and I think we will be too,” she said.
Cr Damian Meadows said he was “very pleased” to see the project starting early next year. He said it was an “amazing” design and would be used by the whole of the community.
Preparatory works are scheduled to start this week with the removal of three clusters of trees within Jalunbu Park.
A council spokesman said an arborist had inspected the trees designated for removal and had relocated several ant plants (myrmecodia beccarii) to an adjacent tree. Eleven out of 66 trees will be removed.
