Karachi: Asia's biggest food and entertainment resort opening next month

[Zaki]

Port Grand opening next month: visitors to pay Rs 200 each for entry to food resort

ISMAIL DILAWAR
KARACHI (July 11 2010): The long-awaited opening of the Asia's biggest food and entertainment resort, Port Grand would be carried out in the mid of next month. "In the first phase the soft opening would be undertaken in mid August," Farooq Hassan, Vice President of Port Grand, told Business Recorder in an interview conducted on Saturday at the scenic site.

Grand Leisure Corporation (GLC) is constructing the Karachi Port Trust's mega project at the 13-acre scenic coastal stretch of Karachi Port ranging from Native Jetty Bridge to M.A Jinnah Bridge roundabout at a cost of over Rs 1 billion on Built-Operate-Transfer basis for 21 years.

Management of the well-known Food Street expects a huge crowd of 10,000 local and foreign visitors in a single day at the under-construction resort, which is first of its kind in the country. "Within a few months of the soft opening we would have influx of people but for a full-fledged operation we hope that around 10,000 people to visit the resort in a day," the vice president said. This figure, Hassan said, was for a normal day while for weekends his management was expecting the number of visitors to range between 15,000 to 17,000.

He said that the management had decided to set entry fee for the Port Grand at Rs 200 per head, out of which the visitor would be allowed to do a hundred rupees' shopping. That means the effective rate of entry in Port Grand is to be Rs 100. "This is to ensure that sober and decent people enter the resort because this is a place where we would like to welcome all families and professionals," the soft-spoken deputy chief added. About security, he said there would be security cameras installed throughout the resort to snap the wrongdoers, if any. "We would keep the photos in record and would not allow entry to a miscreant next time," Hassan said. To a query on feasibility of the 1867-built bridge, Hassan said the government was tending to lay down the outdated bridge, but the Port Grand management reclaimed it and renovated it in a way that sky rocketed original cost of the project, Rs 200 million, to over Rs 1 billion.