Back in business: Sindbad to reopen today after being sealed in August

KMC land director Nasir Abbas says that all matters have been resolved

KARACHI:

Gulshan-e-Iqbal's famous amusement park, Sindbad, is all set to reopen today after being sealed by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) last month.

Located along Rashid Minhas Road, Sindbad Park was sealed by the KMC on the night of August 8. More than one-and-a-half months after its sealing, KMC gave the owners permission to reopen the amusement park, after penalising the Dolmen Group Rs1 million.

KMC land director Nasir Abbas, who earlier accused the park's owners of using it for commercial purposes and charging fees from visitors, which according to him was blatant violation of the agreement.

Earlier, the Dolmen group used to pay Rs15,500 as rent every month and now they have promised to pay above Rs0.5 million per month.

On the dispute of land allegedly being encroached upon by Sindbad, Abbas responded that all matters have been resolved.

Dolmen Group CEO Nadeem Riaz reiterated that all issues have been resolved and denied having illegally used any KMC land. He said that the agreement had not been violated even once. "We were not given any reason in writing before the park was sealed and when the park is allowed to reopen, we don't know where we violated the agreement," he said, confirming that now they will pay Rs0.5 million as rent.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2015.