Cable car, hotel, zip-line and treetop walk planned for huge upgrade of Cleland National Park

A CABLE car, a hotel, zip-line, and a treetop walk — this is the vision to turn Cleland National Park into a world-class tourist destination. But who’s going to pay for it?

• ANALYSIS: Premier’s soaring vision is a highwire act
• Lofty ambition: Cable car proposed for Cleland
• Read the Government’s vision plan for Cleland
• Who is Allan Zeman, the Hong Kong billionaire behind the Cleland plan?

A BILLIONAIRE Hong Kong businessman is proposing a treetop walk, zip-line and cable car in a vision for Cleland Wildlife Park that Premier Jay Weatherill says will turn it into a “world-class” tourism attraction.

Intensifying his pseudo election campaign on Monday, Mr Weatherill announced the unfunded plan to rejuvenate the wildlife sanctuary, including adding a hotel, shopping village, restaurant and bar.

The proposal was developed by Hong Kong’s LKF Group, with its chairman Allan Zeman and transport tycoon Lindsay Fox joining Mr Weatherill for the announcement.

Billionaire businessmen Mr Zeman and Mr Fox, who are decades-old friends, said they would both invest in the project should it gain community support.

Mr Weatherill said up to $150 million would be sought from private investors for the vision in the hope of growing the state’s $1.2 billion nature-based tourism sector.

Lofty plans for Cleland National Park

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“Cleland will always be a wildlife park, but has huge potential to be taken to the next level with some amazing new features to add a real wow factor,” Mr Weatherill said.

“Our vision retains all the aspects that generations of South Australians have treasured, and builds on those by adding exciting experiences like a cable car, zip-lining and a treetop walk.”

Mr Weatherill said the Government planned to make a decision on the proposal — expected to create about 300 jobs — within 12 months and would seek feedback from the community.

He did not say whether the Government would contribute funding, but said the park would continue to be owned and operated by the Government.

An Advertiser.com.au poll has so far found a majority of votes in favour of the cable car plan linking the park with Mt Lofty Botanic Garden and summit. The other votes were evenly split between saying “no” and “need more information”.

Environment minister Ian Hunter, Premier Jay Weatherill, Koala keeper Ashleigh Hunter and entrepreneur Allan Zeman. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

The idea of a multimillion-dollar redevelopment of the park was first flagged by the Premier in 2015 when he sought foreign capital for a five-star resort at the wildlife sanctuary.

Cleland had 125,000 visitors last year, up 4 per cent on the previous year, and Mr Weatherill said the latest vision would do more to make it an “international, world-class visitor destination”.

He said all aspects of the proposal would be “sensitively designed” after a previous attempt by former premier John Bannon to build a Mt Lofty cable car was scrapped in 1989 due to environmental concerns.

Why we’re just wild about Cleland

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“(We had) similar concerns with Adelaide Oval, people said ‘don’t touch it, you’ll mess it up’, but we demonstrated we could make it world-class,” Mr Weatherill said.

“I think we can do the same thing here with Cleland. Allan (Zeman) has a philosophy of ‘keep the best, improve the rest’.”

Mr Zeman said he was “blown away” when he visited Cleland last year and “I saw the same vision that I saw with Ocean Park” in Hong Kong.

“We can make this world-class. This is a jewel in the crown of South Australia,” he said.

Mr Zeman was influential in helping the State Government attract direct flights from China to Adelaide, through China Southern Airlines.

The Advertiser front page on August 29, 1989, when former premier John Bannon abandoned his cable car project

Mr Fox vowed to invest in the proposal should the Hong Kong business magnate be a key backer.

Greens MP Mark Parnell said more details needed to be released, but his party was not opposed to “sensitive developments” that would increase visitor numbers.

“It has to be done sympathetically. There is nothing gained by destroying vegetation and the very environment the Government is supposedly trying to encourage people to visit,” Mr Parnell said.

“One of the most important aspects of this whole thing would be the money the Government makes needs to be put back into conservation.”

Opposition environment spokesman David Speirs said the Liberals understood the huge potential of nature-based tourism and it was why they planned to create Glenthorne national park, a second metropolitan national park in the southern suburbs.

WATCH THE PRESS CONFERENCE: Cleland National Park announcement