Riding on entertainment

Real estate and construction giant Unitech Ltd has joined hands with International Amusement Ltd, in a 50:50 JV, to build two amusement parks.

International Amusement is the parent company of Appu Ghar in Delhi. The two companies plan to build a 142-acre amusement park in Noida and the second one, spread over 62 acre, in Rohini, Delhi.

While the Noida project will have an investment of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion), the Rohini one has Rs 110 crore (Rs 1.10 billion) earmarked for it.

Construction work on both the projects has started. The key attraction to the Noida amusement park will be theme and water parks, malls, hotel, discotheques and multi-cuisine restaurants. Besides the theme and water parks, Rohini will also have a motor sport district.

"We want to differentiate our park from the rest of the parks that are present in the country. Ours will be theme-based parks," says Sanjiv Tyagi, managing director, Unitech Amusement Parks Ltd.

By themes he means that the parks will be segmented into children, teen and family. Every section will have rides that will be characteristic of that section.

According to Tyagi, the first phase, which will be completed by May 2005, will include the theme and water parks.

The second phase, scheduled to be completed by early 2007, will have the malls, hotel, multiplex and a Bollywood-based theme park.

He also plans to construct an entertainment village, which will have street entertainers, restaurants and pubs.

"The whole idea is to create a city walk experience with lots of glitz and neon. We have already zeroed in on a 25-acre plot, opposite Film City in Noida," he says. If work progresses according to schedule the entertainment city should be ready by 2008.

But why this sudden interest in developing entertainment parks? Unitech has already diversified into the hospitality business, explains Tyagi. It owns the Radisson properties in Delhi and Varanasi.

"We also run restaurant chains like The Great Kabab Factory and Superstars. Amusement parks are just an extension of this," says Tyagi.

But more than anything else it makes business sense to hop on to leisure and entertainment roller coaster. This sector is currently estimated to be Rs 1,000 crore annually.

Then there is the growing disposable income (averaging around Rs 5,000 monthly) among the middle class. Factor in the statistic that nearly 30 per cent of India's one billion-plus population is under 20 and starved of entertainment.

Industry experts predict that this sector will touch the Rs 5,000-crore (Rs 50-billion) mark in the next few years. The leisure industry is made up of family entertainment centres, malls, multiplexes and amusement parks (including water parks).

The FECs are made up of bowling alleys, go-karting, mechanised rides, pool tables and virtual reality games. There are close to 200 FECs in India, which are expected to go up to 400 in the next few years. Investments are projected to shoot up from the current Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) to Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).

But what stands out in the leisure and entertainment sector is the explosive growth of amusement parks. They contribute nearly 40 per cent of the total leisure industry turnover.

In 1993 there were just two parks with an investment of Rs 14 crore (Rs 140 million). In 10 years the number has shot up to 55.

Industry estimates suggest that the current size of amusement parks is Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) a year, likely to explode to approximately Rs 1,350 crore (Rs 13.5 billion) by the end of this year.

"It's a sector that is ready to be tapped," says Tyagi. "And we're importing some of the best equipment and rides from Europe and the US."

Some of the rides that he lists and says are not available in any other park in India include the loop roller coaster, crazy train, kamikaze, top spin, wave swinger and drop towers.

"Besides great rides, some of the things in our priority list include stringent safety measures and ample parking. Our multi-level parking lot will accommodate around 8,000 cars at any given point of time," he adds.

According to Tyagi, the parks will recover their investments within six years of operation. "Our target customer is all of north India. One can come for a day or an extended weekend," he adds.

The Rohini park, he believes will cater to an average of 10,000 people per day. While the Noida one will have a staggering 25,000 footfalls.

Canada-based entertainment park designer Forrec Ltd, US-based architecture firm, Bose International, design consultants Light House Creative and Callison Architecture have been roped in for the two projects.

Unitech posted a turnover of Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) in 2003 and issaid to be growing at 10 per cent per annum. International Amusement has seen its Appu Ghar draw over 35 million visitors since it started in 1984 and has earned over Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million).