MSRDC plans theme park on Mumbai-Pune expressway

Joy ride aficionados, who for decades had only a single amusement park in the city, may soon get something to cheer about. Zeeshan Shaikh reports.

Joy ride aficionados, who for decades had only a single amusement park in the city, may soon get something to cheer about.

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The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is now planning to build a theme park spread over 300 to 500 acres near the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

“We are contemplating setting up a theme park on the Mumbai-Pune expressway and are looking out for a consultant,” MSRDC Joint Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Sonia Sethi said. The theme park will be built on a public-private partnership model on 300-500 acres of private land.

MSRDC’s plan of building the theme park on the Mumbai-Pune expressway are attempts to make the land across the 93-km expressway lucrative for investment. MSRDC, which is reeling under a debt of Rs 4,400 crore, is looking at various options for raising money. It is already embarking on a plan to develop 23 plots spread over 1,000 acres along the stretch.

Officials said they were looking at building a park, which was unique in concept and would attract people from across the globe.

Apart from Essel World in the suburbs, Mumbai has no other amusement or theme parks. There are, however, new parks being planned — the Bollywood theme park coming up on the 250 acre of CIDCO land at Kharghar. MSRDC will also construct infrastructure along this land parcels to make them attractive for investors.