​One of the largest parks in the country, the famous “desert” park in Ploiesti, was put into operation seven years ago, but there is still no shade in it. The park is well-kept, green enough, the scenery is “instagramable”, but the situation shows for the thousandth time what happens when the project is started “without a head”. There are few beautiful places in Ploiesti, so this park could become a hit. Why didn’t this happen?

Time passes, the shadow does not come

​Spring 2016 saw the grand opening of the West Municipal Park, an investment of more than 15 million euros, which was supposed to be the biggest park in Ploiesti, but at that time it was just a green field where no one walked and where there was no shade at all.

• Why Ploiesti is a failed city

Walk

Seven years have passed and a lot has changed in the largest park in the city of Prahova: there have been many landings, the park is well maintained, it has a wonderful lake and a greenhouse with cacti and banana trees, some events have also been organized and people come to the park, especially in the evening. But the park remains with a big problem: THERE IS NO SHADOW HERE, and many residents of Ploiesti with children do not have the courage to come to the West Park, considering it to be a kind of “Wild West”, remote, windy and dangerous.

Night in the park

The shadow problem comes from the original idea of ​​the park and is closely related to the trees that were NOT planted 7-8 years ago. If everything was done “according to the textbook”, now there would be at least a little shade in the huge park.

Sensitive species were planted, not adapted to the drought that is increasingly affecting Ploiesti, and at that time there was no irrigation system, although an artificial lake was created in the park for this purpose.

In the greenhouse

In addition, since the summer in Ploiesti is very hot, and it is hot every year, irrigation of large areas is necessary for the park to look decent.

The trees planted in early 2016 have dried up and since then there have been many planting sessions, but quite a few trees from those first batches have survived. The 2018 and 2019 plantings were more successful and some of the trees were larger, but it will be many years before we have stable shade.

A small orchard

There was a healthy series of plantings in the spring of 2023, and also in late 2021, when several thousand acacias were planted in the ground, but nothing took root.

Waterfall at sunset

Many of the trees planted and many of the plants in the greenhouse were obtained through donations from companies or individuals. The park also has a small orchard with apples, pears, cherries, walnuts and almonds.

HotNews.ro has written several times about this “ghost park”, which was inaugurated a week before the local elections in June 2016, although it was far from ready. The park near the West Station not only lacked a bit of shade, but it was also completely useless: it was difficult to get to, most of the attractions were not working, there was not even a kiosk. It was unkempt, unfinished and uninteresting, and a sad symbol of how poorly managed European monetary investments are.

Miniature probe

Much has changed for the better since then, but the park has an image problem, and thousands of Ploiesti residents with children have never come to the park because it seems inaccessible (you have to cross the railway tracks or walk quite a long way). drive through), it was written that it was a unkempt place (which is FALSE) and obviously NO shade (true).

If there was shade, the park filled up quickly

The park was massively presented by the press as one of the very ill-conceived projects for European money, there were delays in implementation, and after the opening the park was still falling apart for more than a year, especially because there were not enough workers to take care of it.

Recently planted trees

The park is representative of many investments in Romania: the project with European money was poorly thought out, and the political struggle in Prahova county also had its say in the neglect of the park after its opening.

An even more representative case for Ploiesti, a city where there are few places to do sports, festivals are rarely organized, and museums are not great at all, except for two or three places.

Green avenue

Political disputes have also been felt in recent months, when the park became the property of CJ Prahova, which wants to make large investments there, including a multifunctional hall. Ploiesti needs a gym, but the big question is what will be left of the green areas, which are also so necessary…

Although the park has no shade, it is a neat place. There are wide paths, it is clean, there are beautiful areas with decorative plants in the greenhouse area, new irrigation systems have been installed. There are beautiful avenues of roses, the stage has also been renovated, and the greenhouse, which can be visited during the week, is like a mini botanical garden.

sculptural

Adjacent to the conservatory are several large sculptures produced at the International Sculpture Camp, which has had several editions over the years.

The lake is one of the most beautiful places for Instagram photos, especially at sunset, but there is also a man-made waterfall, essentially a gate several meters high, from which sometimes for half an hour streams of water flow, and children run under an artificial “mini-flood”. .

The green area has cut grass, painted stone benches and tables, no grass between the tiles and NO piles of garbage in the park. There are also sports fields, as well as a track with ramps and obstacles, for roller skates, bicycles and scooters. In winter, there is also an ice skating rink, and at night the park is very brightly lit.

So, although the park has no shade, it is NOT a boring place.

Dry labyrinth

Two problems remain, besides the lack of shade: the difficult access to the park and the fact that the authorities did not promote it.

Access to the park is not easy, although in June 2017, a long-delayed bridge crossing the railway and connecting the Western District to the Ploiesti ring road was inaugurated. However, some people reach the park on foot, crossing the railway tracks from Ploiești Vest station or crossing the railway under the road bridge near the Lidl store in the Vest district.

Driving to the park, under the bridge and across the railway tracks

There is no public transport to the park, if you come by car, you drive a lot, so many prefer the classic park at Sala Sporturilor (Olimpia), which is small and needs significant modernization (tracks are uneven). That park has a lot of shade, trees planted over 50 years ago, a few kiosks with drinks and popcorn, but also a cafe.

Seasonal fountain

There isn’t much going on in West Municipal Park, people don’t really have a reason to come there. In the winter of 2019-2020, there was a Christmas fair with stands and “tiribombs”, but not many people came. There were also rental cars for a very short time and a terrace by the lake for a few months, but the people of Ploiesti rarely hear about this park when it comes to a festival or any kind of entertainment.

People come to the huge park especially on summer evenings, after 19:00, and on weekends, at noon, the park is often empty even on days with a pleasant temperature of 20-25 degrees. There are also three kiosks (one with donuts, two with juice, popcorn and boiled corn), but mostly only one of them is open for long.

Two kiosks

A year or so ago a “food truck” that operated on weekends and sold

sandwiches, pancakes, coffee and juice, but as of fall 2021, the van is no longer in the park.

There would be one more matter in Romanian: next to the park there is a kind of barn for sheep and poultry, from where it often smells terribly and the stench can be felt in many places of the park. Dogs from that pen used to come to the park, and now you can sometimes see chickens.

The park is a kind of “missed” ball between politicians

The park was and is the subject of disputes between local politicians in Prague. In March, CL Ploieşti approved the transfer of Ploieşti Vest Municipal Park to the Prahova County Council (CJ).

According to the documents related to the CJ’s decision, the request was motivated by the fact that the CJ submitted funding requests to Compania Naţională de Investiţii SA to make some investments of interest to the county, such as an Olympic swimming pool, an ice rink and a sports complex .

In May, the Prahova prefecture asked the Ploiesti local council to re-examine the decision to transfer the largest park in Ploiesti to the Prahova district council.

The mayor of Ploiesti opposes the project, which he considers “a whim of President CJ Prahova” and claims that if CJ wanted to invest in the park, he could do so on the basis of a partnership.

Councilors who supported the transfer of the park from local authority ownership to county council ownership said they were doing so because the county council had committed to several investments in the park, including a multi-purpose hall. One of the MPs who opposed the transfer pointed out that if the CJ had fulfilled all his promises, the green spaces would have been mostly destroyed.