Fatima Jinnah Park to have its own Ferris wheel

Installations to be introduced in the second phase of development

ISLAMABAD:

A 217-foot tall Ferris wheel, a miniature park and a safari park over 100-acres of land – are all set to be introduced at Fatima Jinnah Park.

City managers on Wednesday unveiled this plan as part of the second phase of development in the revised master plan of the park.



The additions follow a government decision to allow the Capital Development Authority to retain management of Fatima Jinnah Park, commonly known as F-9 park, Margalla Hills National Park, and Lake View Park. Control of other city parks will be devolved to the local government under the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Local Government Act, 2015.

Safari park

The initial plan suggests that a safari park will be developed over a 100-acre area in F-9 park, and the first animal scheduled for induction is Kaavan, the 31-year-old Asian elephant who lives in a small enclosure at Marghazar Zoo, CDA environment member Sanaullah Aman told The Express Tribune.

“The CDA has formally requested designs for the proposed safari park,” said renowned architect Nayyar Ali Dada. In 2005, Dada prepared a revised master plan for F-9 park.

He said deliberations were underway over the proposed plan.

See Islamabad

A 217-foot tall Ferris wheel will be installed at a corner of F-9 park. This segment of the project has been named “See Islamabad”.



Sanaullah Aman said it would be an added facility to attract more tourists from across Pakistan as they would be able to get a bird eye view of the capital.

Initially, the CDA mulled installing the Ferris wheel at Lake View Park, but switched over to F-9 park to increase the number of attractions there.

Little Islamabad 

Also on the cards is a miniature park containing models of Islamabad’s most important landmarks and buildings.

“Tourists will be able to get an idea of the whole city while roaming around the miniature park,” Aman said.

CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said the plan had been finalised in a recent CDA board meeting. Sajid said an initial amount of Rs400 million had been allocated to initiate the plan.

Park master plan

Fatima Jinnah Park is spread over 750 acres. The park’s original master plan was prepared by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and was revised in 2005 by Nayyar Ali Dada.



The revised plan divided the park into five zones – public park, lake zone, thematic gardens, cultural zone, botanical garden and sports facilities.

The development of the entire 750 acres was divided into three phases.

Work on first phase of the project was initiated in 2007, at a total cost of Rs1.2 billion. In the first phase, which is almost complete, facilities such as a children’s park, cycling, walking, jogging and skating tracks, a cricket ground, rock garden, and an amphitheatre were developed over an area of 240 acres.

Nearly 80 per cent of work on the 13.7-acre botanical garden has been completed, along with a ‘green restaurant’ which only requires finishing touches.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th,  2016.