30 Oct 2014
Delhi Eye finally debuts three years after completion
BY Tom Anstey
India's Delhi Eye – a 200ft (61m) high ferris wheel in Okhla, south New Delhi – has finally been opened to the public several years after construction on the project was completed.
Completed in 2011, the wheel was mired in controversy with a court-appointed committee overseeing encroachments on the nearby Kalindi Kunj public garden. The wheel fell within a 300m (984ft) strip along either side of the park where private and commercial construction is not permitted.
Syed Salim, managing director of iZara Entertainment which is the operator for the attraction, told local reporters that “all due clearances” had been obtained and that the attraction would now be “up and running seven days a week.”
Dutch ride manufacturer Vekoma has built the attraction, which cost R700m (US$11.4m, €9m, £7m). All 36 of the ride’s cabins, which can hold a combined total of 288 people at a time, are air-conditioned and offer views of the surrounding vicinity, including Akshardham Temple, Humayun’s Tomb and the Lotus Temple.
“We hope the strategic location of the amusement park at Kalindi Kunj will make it accessible to people from Delhi, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gurgaon and the tourists will have another spot to visit in Delhi,” said Salim speaking at a press conference. “As it starts doing well, we are going to add narrations, LCD screens and meals to add to the experience.”
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