The City of Kingston was chuffed when it secured a grant from the federal government of $2,936,000 to go toward a $3.3 million upgrade of the Kingston Heath Soccer complex located within the Kingston Heath Reserve in Cheltenham.
The grant has been made under the federal government’s Community Infrastructure Program.
Kingston Council will fund the additional $360,000 cost of the project from its Capital Works Budget.
A joint announcement outlining details of the grant and the soccer complex upgrade was issued on Friday by Simon Crean Federal Member for Hotham, and Mark Dreyfus, Federal Member for Isaacs.
The completed facility is expected to be available for use by the community in March 2010.
Accepting the Government Grant, Kingston Mayor Arthur Athanasopoulos expressed Council’s gratitude on behalf of all Kingston residents for the opportunity to realize the long held dream of local soccer officials, players and supporters.
“This new complex will fulfil the need for a quality regional soccer facility in Kingston and will offer improved opportunities for, and access to, an extended range of related activities and community engagement programs.
“It will cater for the needs of both our local and Victoria’s regional soccer clubs, schools and community groups who, I have no doubt, will take advantage of increased access to soccer opportunities at this facility,” he said.
“The upgrade of the Kingston Heath Soccer complex will also provide short-term employment opportunities offering approximately 20 full-time jobs during the construction phase,” he said.
One of the many features of the Kingston Heath Soccer complex upgrade will be the provision of two new synthetic pitches.