Long-awaited repairs to the Gungahlin Leisure Centre swimming pool will not be finished this year, the ACT Government has announced.
The 50-metre pool was ready for tiling, Yvette Berry, Minister for Sport and Recreation, announced on Friday; the old tiles had been removed, and the pool prepared. But the contracted tilers were in Sydney, and could not leave due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
“Unfortunately, this means the pool will not be ready by the end of the year as originally anticipated,” Ms Berry said. “Tiling cannot begin until travel restrictions lift, or unless the tilers are granted an exemption to travel to the ACT.”
The pool has been closed since March 2020, at first due to lockdown. While closed last year, tiles fell off the pool – angering locals, who wondered why a $28 million pool only seven years old should fall apart already. In March this year, the ACT Government settled with the pool’s builder, ADCO Construction, which is paying the government $400,000 (only a fifth of the cost of the repairs); and contracted Kynetic, a construction and management services group, to manage the pool repairs, at a cost of $1.52 million. (No tenders were received from local Canberra tilers.)
- A tender spot: Gungahlin pool repairs to cost more than $1.5 million (16 March)
- Open by summer? Gungahlin Pool no longer snookered (2 March)
- Gungahlin residents kept in the dark over pool repairs (19 February)
A spokesperson said the government would inform the public as soon as they revised their timeline. The situation in Sydney was too uncertain to update their timeline yet.
“The government is continuing to explore options to get the tiling done as soon as possible; however, the first priority is to keep the ACT community safe from COVID-19.”
Ms Berry was apologetic. “I know this has been incredibly frustrating for members of the Gungahlin Leisure Centre and the Gungahlin community. This is just one of the many construction projects impacted by restrictions across the country which aim to keep our community safe and stop the spread of COVID-19. We appreciate your patience and ongoing loyalty to our centre while the 50-metre pool is being repaired.”
Locals were frustrated and disappointed, reported Gungahlin Community Council president Peter Elford. “This has been a very sad process from go to whoa.”
Many residents thought it would have been better if the government had identified an appropriate contractor in the ACT; that way, the pool repairs would not have been delayed by travel restrictions.
But Mr Elford was also resigned. “We live in very difficult times. It’s sort of acknowledged that sometimes it’ll be the repair of a pool; sometimes it will be the delay in getting your coffee machine repaired, because COVID has impacted a lot of normal business processes.
“Apart from managing to engage a locally based contractor, it really would have been hard to anticipate that outcome.”
Greens MLA Andrew Braddock shared in the community’s frustrations. “This is really unfortunate for the people of Gungahlin,” he said.
“Every district in Canberra deserves great sports and recreation facilities to exercise and play. Sadly, Gungahlin is going to miss out for a bit longer.
“I will make every effort to continue to advocate for Gungahlin residents, to get the pool finished as quickly as possible, and to improve our district for those who live here now and in years to come.”
Liberals MLA Leanne Castley made no comment.
The ACT Government provides fortnightly progress updates through the Gungahlin Leisure Centre website and social media pages.
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