By Casey Neill
Greater Dandenong in an apt name for a municipality that’s getting better and better.
From Springvale to Noble Park, Dandenong to Keysborough and Bangholme, the city is transforming in many ways.
New businesses are springing up along Bangholme’s Riverend Road – there’s Cornish College, vineyard Craft and Co Farm, training and education facility Nine Dragons Horse Club, and Melbourne Cable Park.
The cable park could be open by Christmas and will be home to lakes for water-skiing, wakeboarding, kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding.
Spokesman Ian Clark said the River End Business Community would be making a combined $15 million-plus investment and creating about 180 new jobs.
Dandenong South is also set for a business boost, with a new bus route to run between Lynbrook Railway Station and Dandenong Railway Station along Abbotts Road from Sunday 13 November.
MatchWorks business development manager Maria Ferreira-Correia said the new bus route would help employers to “benefit from some really good candidates”.
“What’s stopping them from getting a job is they don’t have a car,” she said.
Keysborough South welcomed a new bus route on 28 August, which is serving residents who previously had no public transport access within four kilometres.
Residents will soon have a new shopping centre, too, at Hutton and Chapel roads, and a community hub and school are in the pipeline.
The State Government delivered money to buy land for the school in the 2016-’17 budget, and Greater Dandenong Council has committed cash and planning resources to the hub project.
The council will also chip in $352,000 to develop vacant 1.6 hectare parkland in the Saralands estate, at Stanley Road and Westwood Boulevard.
Recreation will also receive a boost in central Keysborough.
The council allocated $3.3 million towards a new pavilion, car park and access road at Tatterson Park, plus $3.26 million for the project from the Federal and State governments.
“Next year’s budget there’ll be another allocation for another $3-odd million,” corporate services director Mick Jaensch said.
“Those two ovals are MCG-sized football ovals.
“They’re really, really well-used yet we don’t have a pavilion to go with it.
“I think it will be a real jewel.”
The council’s budget also included $8.65 million for the Springvale Civic Precinct, including the Springvale Town Hall redevelopment.
“That’s going to receive a really major facelift which will be really noticeable for the users of the hall,” Mr Jaensch said.
That work starts this month, is due for completion next June, and will include new heating and cooling, improved lighting and sound, and a deck.
The precinct revitalisation’s $40 million second stage is due for completion in 2020 and will include a library, meeting spaces and outdoor areas.
Noble Park will soon say goodbye to the three level crossings that clog up the town centre.
An elevated rail will replace the crossings at Heatherton, Corrigan and Chandler roads, creating community space beneath the train line.
The Revitalising Central Dandenong project started in 2006 and will continue for the next five to 10 years.
Key projects include transforming Lonsdale Street into a green, pedestrian-friendly boulevard; creating Halpin Way and Settlers Square to link Dandenong Railway Station with the town’s heart; Dandenong Civic Centre and Harmony Square; the Australian Taxation Office and Government services buildings; Quest Apartments; and Salvation Army regional headquarters.
Gary Castricum has either lived or worked in Dandenong for his entire life – almost 60 years.
“The city’s been so significantly revitalised,” he said.
“We’re seeing so much life coming back to the centre of the city.”
