Visakhapatnam: About nine parks that fall into the ‘area-based development’ part of the Vizag Smart city plan will soon get a facelift by getting more green space and infrastructure. Rejuvenation of public parks, being a component of the Smart City project, the GVMC officials have been envisioning new landscape strategies for these parks, including realigning the play areas, adding organic gardens and walkways, water cascades, palm plantation, multi-utility play equipment, etc.
What makes these parks more special is that these will be barrier-free for people with special needs. The GVMC, as well as the Project Management Consultant (PMC), had finished their ground-level survey to take up the works. The factors that were considered for the survey include furniture, planting, irrigation and drainage system, accessibility, boundary walls, etc. The parks identified to get a makeover include Vuda Park, Children’s Park in the RK Beach Road, East Point Colony Park, Chinna Waltair Colony Children’s Park, GVMC Park in Kirlampudi Layout, etc.
For example, the Children’s Park in the RK Beach area is not accessible to all and topography of this park should be realigned for better access and aesthetics. The swings in this park are also wrongly placed and they clash with the pedestrian pathways. On the other hand, The East Point Colony Park is less suited for sports activities. All these will be addressed in the renovation of these parks by utilising the available open spaces in an efficient manner.
Dedicated safe sandpit zones, planting of palms to enhance the visual appeal, etc. were also proposed for these parks. The infrastructure component will include updated play equipments, play structures and seating accessible to people of all ages. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, GVMC EE (Smart City), V. Sudhakarrao informed that renovation of these parks will add more quality leisure spaces for the public.
