The cost of restoring the Rockdale Park water feature could be as much as $600,000, double the original estimate.
The water feature which includes a bridge and a stream was built in 1970 in Rockdale Park on the corner of West Botany and Bryant Streets, Rockdale.
It was switched off in 2011 due to ongoing maintenance costs and leakage and has remained dry ever since.
At the time a council report said the water feature had been leaking the equivalent of half an average backyard swimming pool on a daily basis.
Late last year, Bayside Council mayor Bill Saravinovski said the reinstated water feature would be a worthy project to be included in the council’s future capital works program and called for an update of the costs.
An initial estimate late last year for repair works was around $300,000.
But a revised estimate puts the cost closer to $600,000 to reconstruct the water feature.
The new figure was calculated after the council got updated estimates from previous tenders.
Proposed works would include demolition of the existing concrete bed, earthworks to shape the water body, topsoil pits, pits, construction of rock channels, and addition of wetland plants and dry-land plants.
Added to this would be replacement of the pump and associated electrical works, and restoration park areas disturbed by construction.
Cr Saravinovski said further consideration to the project will be made when the council drafts its new budget.
“I personally would like to see it reinstated because it is a feature for the area,” he said.
