Gujarat govt approves $2 billion theme park in Surat

Ahmedabad: Mumbai-based Atlanta Infrastructure Development and Real Estate has received in principle approval from Gujarat government to set up a $ 2 billion theme park in Gujarat. The Gujarat Industrial Development Board and Gujarat Tourism Board has already cleared the project and state cabinet is expected to give a final nod in a few weeks, official sources associated with the project told ET. Development of various components has been envisaged in the four phases. The first phase of the project will start in April 2012. The project will be spread across 13 square kilo-meters, the proposed leisure and one stop entertainment city near Surat. The site identified at Suvali Beach, which has a 3.3 km stretch along the Arabian Sea coast, is located around 20 km from Surat will have five theme parks like nature park, amusement park, water park, beach park, ice skating and skiing dome, restaurants, hotels, studios, forest villas, beach villas, studio lagoon and apartments and villas among others. The initial investment in the theme park will be about $2-billion, which comprises of land development cost, building facilities, transport, technologies, design and planning. The project cost also includes interest during construction. Market research and financial model is being done by Ernst & Young. The conceptual plan is done by Morphogenesis. The project will be financed by a mix of equity and debt. The fund would be constituted by infusion from promoters and debt from financial institutions, advances and deposits received from franchises of hotels, commercials, residential, food plazas and revenues from villas and apartments.