Plans to convert half of Ohori Park, Fukuoka City’s beautiful and spacious park into a “waterpark” were announced today. The plans include the addition of three hotels, four large scale amusement park rides, two restaurants, jet ski and stand up paddle board rentals. The project is estimated to cost 23 billion yen, most of which will come from fund management companies based in Singapore. Analysts predict 380 new full-time jobs, and over 700 part time jobs will be created giving the local economy a welcomed boost. If plans are approved by Fukuoka City and Fukuoka Prefecture, landscaping could begin as soon as early spring 2016. The hotels and rides and services will open in the summer of 2018, two years ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Mr. Li Wei Tong, Senior Project Manager of Singapore-based X-Park Corp. said Ohori Park was chosen for the development mainly because of it’s convenient location within the city. “It’s not easy to find such spacious area so close to downtown and an international airport. Not only Japanese locals, but foreign tourists from all over Asia will flock here. It will put Fukuoka on the map as fun destination within Japan. Can you imagine jet skiing around that huge pond? It’s going to be awesome!” However, the project has already met some opposition. Ms. Midori Ikeda, “NPO Green Happiness” said the economic benefit doesn’t balance with the destruction of nature. “I can’t believe they want to bulldoze the traditional Japanese Gardens” “We don’t need a DisneySea here in Fukuoka – what’s wrong with the park as it is now?” Local government agencies have said they will review the proposal and make their decision by May 1st.
(photo: image of planned development)
