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From: Alamaine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: CTRL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 8:35 am
Subject: [ctrl] 'Disneyland' comes to Baghdad
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3802051.ece
>From The Times
April 24, 2008
'Disneyland' comes to Baghdad with multi-million pound entertainment park
The $1 million skateboard park will open in July. 200,000 skateboards will
be shipped from the US and given away free to Iraqi children
Sonia Verma in Dubai
Llewellyn Werner admits he is facing obstacles most amusement park
developers never have to deal with – insurgent attacks and looting.
When you are building an amusement park in downtown Baghdad, those risks
come with the territory.
Mr Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private
equity firms, is pouring millions of dollars into developing the Baghdad
Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive American-style amusement park
that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a
museum. It is being designed by the firm that developed Disneyland. “The
people need this kind of positive influence. It’s going to have a huge
psychological impact,” Mr Werner said.
The 50-acre (20 hectare) swath of land sits adjacent to the Green Zone and
encompasses Baghdad’s existing zoo, which was looted, left without power
and abandoned after the American-led invasion in 2003. Only 35 of 700
animals survived – some starved, some were stolen and some were killed by
Iraqis fearing food shortages.
In the years that followed, the zoo and the surrounding al-Zawra park
became an occasional target for insurgent attacks. But in recent months,
families have begun to return cautiously for weekend picnics. Renovations
have already begun on the zoo, with cages being repainted and new animals
arriving, including ostriches, bears and a lion.
Mr Werner, who has been sold a 50-year lease on the site by the Mayor of
Baghdad for an undisclosed sum, says that the time is ripe for the
amusement park. “I think people will embrace it. They’ll see it as an
opportunity for their children regardless if they’re Shia or Sunni.
They’ll say their kids deserve a place to play and they’ll leave it alone.”
Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Government, is equally optimistic:
“There is a shortage of entertainment in the city. Cinemas can’t open.
Playgrounds can’t open. The fun park is badly needed for Baghdad. Children
don’t have any opportunities to enjoy their childhood.” Mr al-Dabbagh
added that entry to the park would be strictly controlled.
The project will cost $500 million (£250 million) and will be managed by
Iraqis. Under the terms of the lease, Mr Werner will retain exclusive
rights to housing and hotel developments, which he says will be both
culturally sensitive and enormously profitable. “I wouldn’t be doing this
if I wasn’t making money,” he said. “I also have this wonderful sense that
we’re doing the right thing – we’re going to employ thousands of Iraqis.
But mostly everything here is for profit.”
A $1 million skateboard park, the first phase of the development, will
open in July. Parts for 200,000 skateboards and materials to build ramps
will be shipped from America to Iraq for assembly at state-owned factories
and distributed free to Iraqi children along with helmets and knee pads.
The larger entertainment park, designed by Ride and Show Engineering Inc,
will follow in phases, part of a strategy launched two years ago by the
Iraqi Government and the US to attract private investment into the
country’s 192 state-owned factories.
The factories were closed in 2003 by Paul Bremer, then the head of the
Coalition Provisional Authority, who believed that private enterprise
would take their place. Instead, industries withered and half a million
skilled workers were left jobless.
A task force headed by Paul Brinkley, Deputy Under Secretary of Defence
for Business Transformation, is now attempting to revive Iraq’s factories
– a task undermined by persistent violence.
But Mr Werner, whose company manages several hundred million dollars of
equity, sees Iraq as a great opportunity. “Iraq to me is an open field. I
have never in my life seen an opportunity with the potential that Iraq has
with its skilled workforce and oil reserves.” He has begun partnerships
with several Iraqi factories in the last year, investing tens of millions
of dollars in joint ventures. But the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment
Experience could prove the most ambitious. General David Petraeus, head of
US forces, is said to be a “big supporter” of the project, according to Mr
Brinkley.
“There are all sorts of investment opportunities all over Iraq. But it’s
not just hydrocarbons. Half the Iraqi population is under the age of 15.
These kids really need something to do,” Mr Brinkley said.
City break
— Before the invasion there were two amusement parks in Baghdad, one in
Rusafaa and one in Karf. They now only open on public holidays
— Al-Zawra park and its zoo, (the site of the new park), are among the
city’s most popular attractions. There are fountains, sculptures, coffee
shops and children’s playgrounds
— The Cross Swords park, a favourite meeting place before the invasion, is
now locked inside the green zone
— On warm evenings, Iraqis flock to the city’s three lakes, al-Habanya,
al-Therthar and al-Razaza
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Grand Forks, ND, US of A
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