Wonderla plans amusement park in Andhra, to expand resort biz

Wonderla Holidays Ltd plans to build an amusement park in Andhra Pradesh, and is also looking to expand the resort business to meet increasing demand, a top company official said today.
At present, the company has amusement parks in Bengaluru, Kochi and Hyderabad.
"We have been approached by many state governments. We are talking to Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa. We have an MoU with Andhra Pradesh government. We are seeing how we can do it. That (location in Andhra Pradesh) is not yet decided," Wonderla MD Arun K Chittilappilly told PTI when asked if the firm is looking at more cities to build amusement parks.

The company is in the process of acquiring 60 acres of land on Old Mahabalipuram Road in Chennai, where it plans to build a Rs 80-crore amusement park. The construction is expected to begin in the next financial year.
"We might do a resort project in Hyderabad also at some stage, may be one or two years down the line, not immediately", Chittilappilly said.
The company is looking at expanding its Bengaluru resort and amusement park over a two-year time horizon.

"There is demand from MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions). We have earmarked Rs 30 crore-40 crore (for these expansion activities)," Chittilappilly added.

Meanwhile, Wonderla today inaugurated a solar power generation plant at its amusement park here.
"We have designed the plant for one mega watt. Right now, we have approval for 500 kw, eventually it will become one mega watt within one year or so. That will take care of 80 per cent of our load (power requirements at the amusement park)," Chittilappilly said.
The company has already started work on building similar solar plants at its Bengaluru and Kochi amusement parks, he said, adding it would soon introduce new rides at its Hyderabad facility.