$2.7m Cavenagh St shade structure unlikely to ever have shade, experts say

The vines the government expected to have grown over the Cavenagh St shade structure as early as this month are barely halfway to the top of the structure.

Shade structure on Cavanagh Street update, a year vines were planted.

THE vines which were supposed to grow over the multi-million dollar Cavenagh St shade structure have grown barely halfway to the top of the structure, despite the government having once expected them to be “full size” as early as this month.

THE vines which were supposed to grow over the multi-million dollar Cavenagh St shade structure have grown barely halfway to the top of the structure, despite the government having once expected them to be “full size” as early as this month.

The vines on the $2.7 million structure will have been in the ground for a year this month.

When they were planted, the then-Infrastructure Minister Nicole Manison said the vines were “expected to grow to full size in 12 to 18 months”.

Current Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler told parliament last month the vines were now expected to keep growing until May and that the structure was “beautiful” even without vines growing over it.

But experts continue to say the vines which were planted will never do what the government wants them to.

Former parks superintendent John Antella said yesterday that expecting the vines to grow over the structure was “a bit like expecting a Toyota Corolla to go where you need a Toyota LandCruiser”.

Well that was optimistic.

Mr Antella said the vines which were planted would never grow up 8m, and 11m towards the footpaths on either side of Cavenagh St, as the government’s concept plans envisaged.

“The Minister needs to be informed that it is an absolutely ‘Boundless Impossible’ expectation for the vines to be able to cover the structure,” he said.

Leading Darwin nurseryman Kerry Byrnes said the vines were a different species to what the government said would be planted, and would likely end up being ripped out when people because “exasperated with their slow growth”.

He said the structure itself did not appear to provide enough support for vines to grow on, and other species would likely have a better shot at growing up and over the structure.

“It’s a horrible proposition to be experimenting in a public place with such a visible project,” he said.

He said the vines appeared to be “really, really healthy” and well looked after, but were “not doing what they wanted it to”