The drying up Aladin Park

Management and KMC at loggerheads over commercial activity.

KARACHI:

On a recent Saturday evening, thousands flocked to the Aladin Amusement Park, the biggest such facility in Pakistan.

People, mostly in their teens, line up in queues as they anxiously wait to try popular rides including the heart-stopping “Free Fall” and “Discovery”.

During national holidays, the number of visitors easily surges beyond 25,000 a day. The average turnover at the park is 3 million a year, making it the most visited recreational place in the country.

It appears to be doing a roaring business. But the company, A.A Joy Land, says it operates just above breakeven.

Most of the visitors use recreational area as a picnic spot. Families come jam-packed in vans and hired coaches, bringing along coolers and home-cooked food. However, when it comes to taking out the wallets and spending money, they are not as eager as the park management expects them to.

“People use assorted facilities, which are for free. Their kids play around and have a good time. But just a handful of them actually spend money on the rides,” said a director at A.A Joy Land.

Joy Land is part of Siddiqsons Group, which has interests in textiles, metals and property sectors. It recently came under fire from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), which says the company breached the contract by resorting to commercial activities including renting out shops.

KMC’s rebuke was published on August 13 with a notice titled, ‘WARNING’ in national newspapers and cautioned people against dealing with A.A Joy Land as the “contract of this company with KMC is going to expire in the near future.”

What the notice didn’t mention was that the near future comes in 2021.

Once upon a time

The idea of Aladin Amusement Park was conceived in the early 1990s when the fast-changing governments were attempting to bring some sense of stability to the city. The land KMC was willing to spare was part of Safari Park in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, located along Rashid Minhas Road.

Up until 1994-5, it was largely allocated as a dumping ground. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government used it as a warehouse for hundreds of yellow cabs, which were distributed amid much fanfare in the preceding tenure of Nawaz Sharif.

Not many people remember now but Aladin, built over government land measuring 52 acres, was the hit of the town. Its water park, which has long been shut, was one of its kind with tall slides and an artificial wave pool.

“There is no denying that the private sector could manage it much better than any government entity,” said Mansoor Qazi, who headed KMC’s park division between 1998 and 2005. “KMC didn’t spend any money on its development but enjoys the additional revenue stream instead.”

However, KMC officials insist the company has gone back on the contract more than once.

Old issues

The rift between the administration and Joy Land is not new. KMC took the company to court in the late 1990s to recover what it considered the right share of money being charged from the visitors. The Park was even sealed for few days in 2004 during the tenure of former Nazim Naimatullah Khan.

The job of issuing entry tickets and collecting vehicle parking charges has also been taken over by KMC to ensure oversight.

KMC’s Senior Director Recreation Rehan Khan said that multiple agreements have been signed with the company over the years. “As per the agreement, which was updated last in 2004, they can use only 5% of the 52 acres for commercial purpose.”

He said that only the KMC’s estate department reserves the right to lease shops.

On the other end, the company is using around 30% of the land for commercial purposes including a private members’ club.

Current and former officials offer varying views on the matter. But all of them point out that influential investors, backed by political parties, are vying to get hold of the land worth billions of rupees.

“The day the amusement park wraps up, you’ll see influential individuals vying to build apartment buildings there. Ultimately, it’s all about the land,” said an official.

Waking up to reality

KMC has two issues — the sale of shops at Aladin Shopping Mall and the private members’ club called the Pavilion End, both of which fall within the larger area of the amusement park. Both of them have existed for more than eight years.

“Commercial use is not barred in the tri-party agreement,” said the A.A Joy Land director. “As a matter of fact, 25% of the shops belong to the KMC.”

Pavilion End Club, which offers facilities like gymnasium, space for corporate meetings and marriage halls available on rent, has been built over what was once the water park. It is the biggest question mark over the commitment of the project sponsors.

“The water park did well initially, attracting a good crowd but then people lost interest,” said the director. “There were social and economic reasons behind that.”

People in Karachi tend to avoid the water from October onwards till February, making the period a low demand one.

Unlike international amusement parks, which start receiving visitors in the morning, Aladin opens it gates at 6:00 pm, the company says. “There is no tourism in Pakistan, so we have to cater to the local market.”

That market has also shifted over the years as residents of middle-income localities like Gulshan-e-Iqbal and PECHS hardly come. Aladin has become a picnic spot for people of Landhi, Baldia, Saddar, Malir and Lyari.

“Eighty percent of the visitors don’t spend any money on rides,” says the Joy Land’s director. “Best example to judge that is our Rs300 band scheme, which allows you to enjoy almost all the rides as much as you want. Only 5% people are availing that.”

The company says the cost of maintaining 52 acres eats up most of the revenue. “We have 115 security guards, Rs50 million alone are spent on maintenance each year. If we are so bad then someone should explain why we haven’t seen any competition in recreational business?”

The writer is a staff correspondent

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2014.

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