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Shivaji Park to get Olympic pool |
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Will have an underground park, spectators’ gallery, and facilities for aerobic and cardio exercises…. Sandeep Ashar |
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The city will soon have a 10-lane racing pool — of Olympic standards — at Shivaji Park in Dadar. The Mahatma Gandhi Smarak Municipal Swimming Pool at Shivaji Park, near the Mayor’s bungalow, will also have three more pools — one for recreational swimming, one for children and one with diving board facility. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday announced that it had got clearance of the central ministry of environment and forests for transforming the existing pool into a world-class one.
The clearance, which was issued on February 18, was required as the swimming pool is located within 200 metres of Dadar Chowpatty sealine, thereby falling under the coastal regulation zone. With the decks cleared now, additional municipal commissioner Manu Kumar Shrivastav said that tenders will be soon floated for the work. Shrivastav said the pool premises would also have an underground car park to with a capacity to hold 105 four-wheelers and 16 two-wheelers.
If the designs prepared by the BMC-appointed architect Shashi Prabhu are any indication, then the pool will have a separate racing pool (50 m * 25 m), diving pool (25 m * 22 m), warm-up pool (25m*15 m) and a children’s pool (18.5 m * 10 m). “The dimensions have considered international norms.The racing pool will have ten lanes,” said Shrivastav.
With many swimmers complaining of skin allergies due to chlorination, the pool will use ozone for treatment of the pool water. Apart from the state-of-the-art facilities, “there will be a Spectators’ gallery with a seating capacity of 1,000 people,” said Shrivastav.
The transformation project, costing Rs19.64 crore, will also involve changing of the existing alignment of the pool among other things. The pool, as it exists today, is at a perpendicular to the sea. Force of sea winds and tidal action have been a major cause of erosion of its tiles,leading to leakages. Presently, the pool is closed for repairs.
In fact, BMC has spent several lakhs on retiling, but the leakage problem persists. “The modernised pool will be parallel to the sea,” added Shrivastav. “The idea is to have a pool where national swimming competitions and events could be staged. The work should start by April this year and will be completed within 18 months,” he stated.
Unlike the previously modernised Nirlon Swimming Pool at Goregaon, which is being maintained by Sena leader Subhash Desai-backed NGO, Prabhodhan, BMC stated that it will not outsource the maintenance of the Dadar pool. Shiravastav, however, said that BMC was yet to decide on the fee to be charged for the new pool. In all, the civic body maintains seven pools in the city. Among these three — General AK Vaidya Marg at Chembur, Shahaji Raje Krida Sankul at Andheri, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Kandivli are closed for repairs.
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