Friday, June 15, 2007

Ramna Children's Park (Shishu Park) Dhaka


Bird's eye view of Ramna Children's Park - (Shishu Park)

Entry gate of park

'Misuk' (fawn) under tree

Park - inside view






Jet Fighter in the park




A tranquil place


For the train ride

Awaiting riders

Most sought after in the park. (below 1981 ptc)

Whirling chair - not recommended for minors


A cosy place to relax







Ferris wheel - enjoy a panoramic view of Ramna



lonely




The Children’s (Shishu) Park in Ramna, on 15 acres of land curved out of northern portion of Sohrawardy Uddyan (formerly Ramna Race course), and on the south of BIRDEM and Dhaka Club, was built and inaugurated in 1979 as the first park in a planned manner to provide amusement to the children. The park has ferris wheel, mini train, trampoline, merry-go-round, skating rink, several other joy rides and over dozens of food courts for fun and entertainment. The train is always a crowd puller. The fighter plane near the hill was a gift from Bangladesh Air Force in late 90's. It has all its dials and switches in place, and in their 3 minute tour of the cockpit, the kids can operate the tail that sways from side to side.

In 80's and 90's, the park was the most attractive place in the town. But now it has lost most of its charm, the rides have become worn out and out-moded. The machines bought from Japan in late 70's need replacement every 15 years. But they are running for over 25 years making them vulnerable for accidents. Power failures are a regular feature disrupting the rides or the machines. The park authority is yet to make alternative arrangement for power supply from a standby generator.

With the growth of private commercial 'wonderlands and large theme parks' with new exciting items and rides in places such as, Gulshan, Ashulia and Nandan, attraction of Ramna Shishu park is losing fast. Except on Fridays and holidays, the park remain almost empty. The amusement offered by the park are availed by the poorer section of the city as they can't afford to visit the costly theme parks.

There was a plan to expand the park with dozens of new items, including roller coaster, water splash etc. and parking spaces, but it’s lying in cold storage for long. We hope the project would be revived and approved soon and all the new attractions would be able to pull back the crowds and take Shishu Park back to new heights. The park is maintained by DCC (Dhaka City Corporation). Entry fee to the park is Tk. 8/- per person, rides coupons are Tk 5/- each and are sold inside the park.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

the park looks neat and tidy.

Unknown said...

As a citizen of Bangladesh I really proud of the park. The beauty and facility in this park should be improved more.