In an apparent bid to ensure that Abbottabad is identified with something other than Osama bin Laden, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government is planning an amusement park in the area.
An AFP report quoted the provincial Minister for Tourism & Sports Syed Aqil Shah as stating that a 50-acre riverside amusement park was being planned.
3An amount of Three billion rupees ($30.6 million) has been allocated so far for the development of the amusement park with plans to expand it from the initial 50 acres to 500 acres. Work on the first phase is expected to begin this month and could take several years to complete.
The Minister insisted that the plans to develop an amusement park was essentially envisaged as an effort to boost tourism in the province that has been badly hit by terrorism.
After the May 2, 2011 raid in Abbottabad by the U.S. Navy Seals that killed bin Laden, the government first sealed off the compound to prevent it from becoming a tourist attraction.
Then in February 2012, the entire building was razed down for fear of it being turned into a shrine by those supportive of his ideology.
