Navi Mum park to reopen with new rides this month
NAVI MUMBAI: After being shut for over a year, the much-loved Wonders Park in Nerul is all set to open from December 15 with a ₹27 crore facelift.
“Initially expected to open from January 2023, Wonders Park will now start functioning from December 15 this year,” said Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) executive engineer Sanjeev Desai.
The corporation has spent ₹27 crore to give a new avatar to the amusement park, for example, it has added five new rides and a musical fountain in the park.
The residents of the city have been eagerly waiting for over a year for the park to resume functioning again. “Ever since the lockdown was lifted, the kids have been eagerly waiting for the park to be reopened. Navi Mumbai has several gardens, but there is only one amusement park which is affordable as well. It is the biggest challenge to keep the children entertained on weekends. Going to malls every weekend is a costly affair,” said Archana Lokhande, a Nerulbased mother. Situated at sector 19-A in Nerul, the park is spread across a 9.8-hectare plot and was built at ₹37.34 crore in 2012. The park has models built on the theme of Seven Wonders of the World along with rides like a frisbee ride, octopus ride, ferris wheel ride and break dance ride along with a toy train that chugs around the entire park.
These five rides have been replaced with six new rides namely, the sky wheel ride, sky copter ride, rocking disc, sky swinger, worm coaster and bumper car ride. A musical fountain, powered by 28 pumps, will also be added, but will only start functioning by January end. The musical fountain, for which ₹8.09 crore has been spent, will be placed in front of the existing amphitheatre.
The NMMC administration had provided the approval for the renovation of the amusement park on December 24, 2019, but later with the Covid-19 pandemic, the procedure was further delayed and finally, in March 2021, the work order was issued to Ashwini Infra Development Pvt Limited.
The sky wheel ride is the costliest ride among the new rides and the corporation incurred an expenditure of ₹1.45 crore.