Japanese Gardens undergoes transformation

IN recent years Japanese Gardens has seen an upsurge in muggings and robberies, specifically at the bottom of the park near the porous wall bordering Waterkant Road. However, all that is about to change as the newly refurbished gardens was officially handed over to the City’s Parks Department last week following a 13 month refurbishment and rehabilitation of the gardens.

The refurbishment project funded by the City has seen a new wall being constructed, the installation of Betterview fencing along Prospect Hall Road, the implementation of a boom gate system to control access to the gardens popular for picnics, and the construction of a new wedding venue setting at the lower half of the gardens.

Durban North resident, Sion Ramdeyal whose company Worksite Ashphalt, was contracted by the City to carry out the work according to their specifications elaborated on the new additions to gardens.

“The City is considering renting the lower half of the park as a wedding venue. A new wall, topped with 186 metres of new razor wire has been built along Waterkant Road. A new roller gate has also been installed to give those using the site as a wedding venue access to the gardens. We’ve installed toilets, paved an area where a tent can be installed, built a new chapel and landscaped the lower half of the garden. We’ve already hosted three weddings on a trial basis.

“Other facets to the project include new benches installed, boom gates installed at the entrance to the park to control access when the gardens get full.

“We’ve also extended the parking space at the entrance to the gardens, installed new picnic spots, paved a little more than a kilometre in paving which winds around the gardens. In all this project took 13 months to complete,” Ramdeyal said.

The project also sourced local labour from ward 36 and saw up to 30 people employed for the various projects.

Durban North ward councillor, Shaun Ryley, said he was extremely pleased with the project which he said would now be an even bigger boon for the area.

“This has been a few years in the making and what has been pleasing to me was the employment of local labour. The park was in a bad state before but the City and Sion have done a commendable job to bring the rejuvenation project to fruition. I’m blown away by the end result,” he said.

It is believed the City is yet to determine the rates to hire the lower half of the park as a wedding venue.

The last aspect of the project is to seal the culvert at the bottom of the gardens which runs under the M4 Ruth First Highway and had been used by criminals to gain access to and escape the gardens.

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