Australia’s Gold Coast has begun preparing for the upcoming 2018 Commonwealth Games by altering the beach in which the competition will be played. This has required that sand dunes be bulldozed to make room for practice courts, angering nearby residents.
Two months ago, it was determined that the sand at Greenmount Beach, where the competition will take place, was too fine for a wide-scale competition. This meant that the sand would offer no stability for athletes, posing a high safety concern causing the organizers of the event to invest $19 million to bring in around 1,000-1,200 tonnes of coarser sand. An additional 500-520 tonnes would be brought in for the practice courts.
According to ABC News, Gold Coast City Council spent $13.9 million in beach nourishment last year. The destruction of the dunes takes away from the progress that was made in the past year. However, Gold Coast Mayor, Tom Tate said that the dunes would be reinstated following the Commonwealth Games.
Local residents were angered by the decision to destroy the dunes for the games, as they were not informed of the plan to do so. Tate said that the city council and his staff were carrying out the request of the Games organizers.
The Commonwealth Games will take place from April 6-11, 2018 in Gold Coast.
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