Tenders issued for waste to art park in East Delhi

Based on the theme of Indian festivals and celebrations, the park, which will spread over an area of 2.7 acres will be located behind the V3S mall next to the Nirman Vihar Metro station

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has planned a waste to art theme park near east Delhi’s Vikas Marg and has invited bids to rope in a private company to develop the project on public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

The Statue of Liberty replica at the Sarai Kale Khan Waste to Wonder Park, which is the blueprint for Celebration Park. (HT archive)

Based on the theme of Indian festivals and celebrations, the park, which will spread over an area of 2.7 acres will be located behind the V3S mall next to the Nirman Vihar Metro station, and will cost an estimated ₹1.75 crore, officials aware of the development said.

Under the PPP model, the private operator contracted to develop the park will be able to run the facility for 10 years, after which it will be handed back to the MCD, the officials said.

A senior MCD official, on condition of anonymity, said, “The idea is to develop this space as a hub for activities, fairs and exhibits during major festivals. The park will have designated spots for replicas featuring scenes from all religions and cultures such Diwali, Eid, Holi and Christmas, while regional festivals from south and northeast India have also been incorporated in the project report,” official said.

Dubbed as Celebration Park, this park will also have provisions for exhibits, fairs and family activities and food court featuring regional cuisines on each festival, another official associated with the project said.

The bid document, floated on March 10, says that the private operator will also be allowed to develop a commercial area of 3000 sq ft at the park. The project will also incorporate sit-outs, gazebos, souvenir shops, a cafeteria and a dedicated children’s play area, the document says.

“We have kept a provision to mark major sports achievements such as that by Neeraj Chopra or Kapil Dev. Fairs as well as exhibits will be organised near the amphitheatre as per an annual calendar,” another official said.

Compared to the rest of the city, large sections of unplanned and under-developed east Delhi are starved of green and open spaces. While areas under the erstwhile North and South MCDs have more than 6,000 municipal parks each, east Delhi has only 2,098 municipal parks.

The MCD currently operates two waste to art parks – Bharat Darshan Park at Punjabi Bagh, which features replicas of Indian monuments, and Waste Wonder park at Sarai Kale Khan, with replicas of seven wonders of the world.

“Expansion of the two existing parks as well as the development of a new theme park at Shahidi Park on ITO is being undertaken. We will not be making monument replicas at Celebration Park, but it will instead be projected as a site for holding celebratory events,” the second official quoted above said.