Newstrack

Mumbai to get its own Wonder La amusement park

To develop resorts attached to all its parks

Sayoni Bhaduri - Bangalore

The Wonder La brand of amusement parks has announced a new project on the outskirts of Mumbai in Panvel, Navi Mumbai. Arun Chittilapilly, its MD, revealed, "We have been acquiring property for this project. Out of the required 120 acres, we have already purchased 65 to 70 acres of land." It plans to invest approximately Rs 150 to Rs 200 crore in the project.

Discussing other plans, Chittilapilly said the group is also planning to develop resorts attached to its amusement parks. Its parent company V-Guard's first amusement park project was in Kochi called Veega Land, which was followed by Wonder La in Bangalore in 2005. Speaking on the need for such parks, he said, "Our study revealed there was a need for a resort in sync with the amusement park. The concept works wonderfully abroad and we hope to achieve the same here."

The first of these resorts is to come up adjacent to the Kochi amusement park with an investment of Rs 40 to 50 crore. The resort will be fully operational by 2010 and will be based on the theme of the amusement park.

Wonder La is also looking at manufacturing and providing homegrown rides to amusement park operators in India. Chittilapilly said, "We already have a few rides like the virtual 4D theatre and small roller coasters. We should not have any difficulty stepping into the next level."

He explained that the reason for getting into this was to provide Indian-made rides with quality and safety. It will also be easy to maintain due to the indigenous mechanical parts used. It is currently in talks with European firms for their technology to be used forthe Indian amusement park rides.