Facing an ever-increasing competition from private amusement parks, the DCC has decided to repair the old rides of Shishu Park in a bid to make it more attractive.

The Shishu Park was established on a 15-acre land in 1979. The DCC became responsible for it in 1982. Before that, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation looked after the park.

Most of the fun and sport gadgets at the park are now over two decades although their life span was no more than 10 years.

"We were forced to continue with these rides having them repaired as the authorities did not provide funds to replace the old machines," said a DCC source.

The DCC has already prepared a project proposal and estimated Tk 92 crore for new additions and renovation of park. The project proposal will be sent to the Ministry for Local Government and Rural Development shortly for approval.

At present, the Shishu Park has 12 rides including a toy train, a merry-go-round and a number of wheel-based rides. A fighter jet too was provided by the Air Force in 1992.

"Over the years, no new items have been procured for the Shishu Park. At the same time, private entrepreneurs have come up with different exciting modern fun features that have attracted children. People are even prepared to spend the high entrance charge with those facilities," said DCC's Chief Engineer Golam Quadeer.

"If the 16 new rides are introduced, the entry ticket price will still remain within the reach of the common people as this is their park. But we may raise the rate of the rides a little, but that won't be anything exorbitant," Quadeer said.

"As the visitors are mostly children we have proposed to build a pedestrian subway in front of Shishu Park. We will also build a separate parking area for the visitors because the park has no such place," he added.

Now Shishu Park charges Tk 5 for entry per person and Tk 4 for each ride. The park is open Monday through Thursday and Saturday from 2 pm to 7 pm while on Friday, it is open from 2.30 pm to 7.30 pm. It remains closed on Sundays.

Every Wednesday, Shishu Park offers free entrance and rides for street children and destitute of the city.