Sunder Nursery: VP opens 90-acre park in Delhi, hails PPP model

Sunder Nursery, a lush 90-acre park in south Delhi restored over a period of 10 years, was today inaugurated by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who described it as a "magnificent" and a successful story of public-private-partnership model.
The park, which will be open to the public from tomorrow, neighbours the iconic Humayun's Tomb, a World Heritage site.
"With the opening of this park, the capital will now have a great addition to its green spaces. One day it will become the national park of the city. This is a model and a successful public-private-partnership (PPP) story," Naidu said.
The vice president also said plans are afoot in the government to extend this green space to Purana Quila.

The park, which began as a nursery over a century ago to feed the new British capital coming up here, has been developed by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in partnership with the CPWD and ASI and the SDMC.
Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini (the Aga Khan IV), who jointly opened the park along with Naidu said, "The park is being dedicated today to honour the past with the future on mind."

"Almost seven centuries ago, a Sufi saint walked the path here, standing for the teaching of universal love...It is with the same pluralistic and harmonious spirit that we dedicate the park today," he said.

The Aga Khan said in the work done on the park "divine blessings" meets "human creativity".
As many as 20,000 saplings of 280 tree species have been planted - making Sunder Nursery, the Delhi's first arboretum; and over 80 bird species have already been recorded since the overgrown and decrepit nursery was replaced with green cover.
The centre piece of the park is the Sunder Burj, endowed with embellished artwork on its inside dome and walls.
A new central axis has been created rich with fountains and gardens.
"Six of the 15 monuments on the site have been designated as World Heritage monuments following conservation and landscape restoration; and facilities such as an amphitheatre have been built and more are planned," the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) said.

Sunder Nursery is the seventh park of urban scale developed by the AKTC, it said.