Touliki Public Swimming Pool being rebuilt for new venture [1]
Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - 19:09. Updated on Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 14:32.
By Pesi Fonua
The Touliki Public Swimming Pool, is currently under reconstruction by the Ca’Bella Pacific Construction (Tonga Ltd) for a new venture called the Tonga Aquatic Sports, a personal project of the Ca’Bella general manager, Paea Pau’u.
Paea, a resident of the Touliki area said that he had been driving up and down the waterfront area and decided that he had to do something about the deteriorating state of the Touliki Public Swimming Pool.
The dilapidated state of the pool came to public attention, following the drowning of a 13-year-old school girl at the pool in February, on a school outing.
Then the arrival of Cyclone Harold on 8-9 April, did a lot of damage to the pool, but, unfortunately, not enough to open up a second water channel into the pool to improve the flow of seawater to keep the pool water fresh for swimmers.
Paea said he haf accepted the challenge, and though he could not lease the 100 meters square water front area but he has been granted a permit to proceed with his project.
He is planning to open a cafeteria, build a second water channel into the pool, and provide swimming apparatus to encourage people to use the swimming pool.
Paea said that he was planning to open the new facility in March. There are also other aquatic activities that they plan to provide outside of the swimming pool and beyond the reef.
Nuku'alofa reconstruction
The original construction of the public swimming pool coincided with the completion of the multi million Nuku’alofa Central Business District Reconstruction Project at the end of March 2012.
However, in 2014 the pool was closed by the then former General Manager of the Ports Authority, Mosese Lavemai, to enable the construction of a second water channel to improve the flow of seawater into and out of the murky pool.
This additional work was not completed, and meanwhile the swimming pool degenerated to an appalling state.
Tragically, there have been two drowning cases at the pool both in the summer months; the first on 21 January 2013, and the second in February 2020.
The authority over the swimming pool area, which is roughly about 100 meters square, was shifted from the Ports Authority to the Ministry of Land.
According to the Chief Executive Officer for the Harbour Port Authority, ‘Alo Maileseni, the Tonga Defence Services had shown an interest in the area and the former Chairman of the Harbour Board Authority, Dr Sitiveni Halapua endorsed a decision by the Board to surrender its authority over the waterfront area (where the swimming is) and return it to the Ministry of Land.
Unfortunately we were not able to talk to anyone from the Ministry of Land about the Touliki Public Swimming Pool.
Meanwhile, there is a petition in circulation by residents of the area to stop the Tonga Aquatic Sports project from blocking their access to the sea, along with other complaints.
A public toilet that was constructed in 2019 to alleviate some of the problems at the pool was completed but never opened.