the luohu sports and leisure park opened to the general public tuesday, providing entertainment, sports courts, and green areas, the shenzhen special zone daily reported.
"luohu district is the oldest district in shenzhen with limited land resources, so the land used for sports per capita was lower than the other districts of the city," said he haitao, the party chief of luohu district.
the chief said that based on the geographic features of the district, the district government developed a piece of land amid mountains and rivers in luohu to function as a venue where residents can do sports and enjoy leisure activities.
the park has a picturesque view with its location to the east of luohu district, adjacent to wutong mountain, the shenzhen water reservoir, xianhu botanical garden and donghu park with convenient transportation.
apart from providing courts, a gymnasium and facilities for sports, the park also has a green path with cherry trees planted along it.
the park has a children's playground and waterfront area. ninety-eight of the 185 parking spaces can be used to charge electric vehicles.
there are six basketball courts, one volleyball court and six shuttlecock courts at the south end of the park. there are two seven-player soccer fields and three five-player soccer fields in the north.
according to a staffer from the luohu gymnasium, residents began to book the courts days before the park was opened to the public. the luohu government authorized the luohu gymnasium to run the park.
"court reservations are as popular as we expected. all of the soccer fields and basketball courts are fully booked for the next few days," said the staffer. "we have designed a new management procedure for the operation of the new park and it has worked well so far."
the booking service for the courts launched june 15. booking should be done a week in advance via phone or onsite appointment. users of the courts should pay the booking fee in person at the court three days in advance.
for the free facilities, residents also need to book via wechat account for the official luohu community website. the opening hours of the sports facilities are from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and the director of the luohu district culture and sports bureau, li shaoming, said that after 4 p.m. every day will likely be the most popular hours for the park.
shenzhen held the first meeting on the "going east strategy" at the beginning of may. luohu district was included in the municipal strategy of constructing the city's eastern center on this occasion. during the meeting, tang jie, former vice mayor of shenzhen, urged luohu district to seize this opportunity to improve its urban development.
the construction of the park is one of the major projects for luohu district to improve the living standards of its residents. the project was launched at the end of 2013 with a total investment of 49.7 million yuan (us$7.6 million).
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., the basketball court, volleyball court and shuttlecock court are free of charge. the charge for soccer fields will be lower than the market price. between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., the outdoor basketball court will charge five yuan per hour for each player during night sessions and it costs 60 yuan to book the whole court for an hour. residents can book the soccer fields for from 100 to 300 yuan for two hours according to the size of the fields.
