DDA plans 55 acre amusement park in Rohini

New Delhi: Nearly two decades after Delhi lost its only large-scale amusement park with the closure of Appu Ghar, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has initiated plans to develop a new amusement park on a 54

New Delhi: Nearly two decades after Delhi lost its only large-scale amusement park with the closure of Appu Ghar, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has initiated plans to develop a new amusement park on a 54.7-acre site in Rohini.

Earlier this week, the authority invited expressions of interest (EOI) from experienced developers for the project in Sector 34, Rohini. (HT Archive)

Earlier this week, the authority invited expressions of interest (EOI) from experienced developers for the project in Sector 34, Rohini. The selected developer will be given licence rights to develop and operate the park for 55 years through a competitive bidding process.

Officials said the EOI is aimed at gauging market interest before the DDA issues a detailed Request for Proposal (RFP).

“The EOI has been floated to assess interest from reputed players with experience in executing projects of this scale. Based on the feedback, the project scope and bidding conditions will be finalised before the RFP is issued,” a DDA official said.

The park will come up on a vacant land earmarked as a district park under the Master Plan. The site has a permissible floor area ratio (FAR) of 7.5, maximum ground coverage of 5% and a height limit of eight metres.

The project comes at a time when Delhi lacked a destination-scale amusement park for years. Appu Ghar, inaugurated in 1984 at Pragati Maidan, was shut down in 2008 after the land was acquired for the redevelopment of Pragati Maidan ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. While a new Appu Ghar later opened in Gurugram, Delhi has not had a comparable amusement park since.

At present, Delhi has smaller recreational attractions, along with a few water parks and family entertainment centres. However, it does not have a large standalone amusement park comparable to destinations such as Worlds of Wonder in Noida or Wet’n’Wild in Gurugram.

Another major project, Bharat Vandana Park in Dwarka, spread over more than 200 acres, is being developed as a major tourism and cultural destination with themed zones, water features and public spaces.However, the park is yet to open due to repeated delays, said officials.

“If implemented as planned, the Rohini amusement park will be Delhi’s first major greenfield amusement park project in nearly two decades and significantly expand the city’s recreational infrastructure”, an official said.

The authority said the project parameters, development obligations and licence conditions will be finalised after evaluating responses during the EOI process, following which financial bids will be invited.