GVMC’s Aqua Sports Complex given a facelift in Visakhapatnam, to be opened this week

GVMC's Aqua Sports Complex to open soon after renovation.

After being shut down for almost three years, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation’s (GVMC) Aqua Sports Complex at Beach Road will be thrown open to the public very soon. The Aqua Sports Complex, which is popularly known as municipal swimming pool, has undergone massive renovation.

The municipal pool was shut just before the COVID-19 to undergo renovation. The renovation works were delayed further due to the two-year-long COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and other reasons. Though the renovation activity has been going on for a year, the works really picked up during the last few months with the deployment of additional workers. Works at the entrance arch, flooring, laying of new tiles, repairing/replacing new pipelines, machinery, the diving board, lighting and painting were completed. GVMC Commissioner C.M. Saikanth Varma supervised the renovation activities. The GVMC has also arranged decorative lights at the entrance of the complex.

Mr. Varma inspected the works along with Engineering Department officials on Saturday night. According to him, lighting under the pool, flooring and polishing works were going on, and the entire work would be completed in the next two to three days and they were planning to inaugurate the renovated complex during this week.

The Aqua Sports Complex was once a paradise for the budding swimmers, schoolchildren and athletes in the city. Due to the closure of the municipal pool for the last three years, no major swimming events were conducted in the city. Moreover, there was no scope for the conduct of annual summer swimming coaching camps for the children, though the demand for these camps was huge. The non-availability of the pool has not only affected the growth of the enthusiastic swimmers from the city, but has also made the coastal city unavailable for many national and international swimming events over the years. According to several swimmers, the Aqua Sports Complex has its own significance and had nurtured hundreds of swimmers.