Bangladesh in a short walk

For those who haven’t had the fortune to visit the major landmarks and monuments of Bangladesh, the “Mini Bangladesh” theme park in the port city can serve as something of a snapshot.  

Officially named Shadhinata Complex, the park has simply become Mini Bangladesh to those who love it. It displays replicas of a total of 14 national landmarks, including Jatiya Smriti Shoudha, Shaheed Minar, Ahsan Manzil, Parliament House, Curzon Hall, Kantajir Temple, Lalbagh Fort, Bara kuthi, Sona Mosque, Paharpur Bihar, Saint Nicolas’ Church and Darbar Hall.

The park boasts a variety of amusement rides too, all for the visitors’ pleasure. To add to these, it has an artificial lake with boats for hire.

A 24-storey high revolving restaurant stands at park premises. It’s a treat not only for the diners but also for their eyes. Sitting at the table, one gets to see almost all of the city while enjoying the meal.

The Shadhinata Complex park is located beside Kalurghat Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra in the port city. While it’s a favourite for Chattogram locals, the crowd is not limited to them. With such a spectacular setting, Mini Bangladesh attracts people from all over the country.

For example, Sayeed Hasan came to the park all the way from Cumilla. “I wanted to visit the park after coming across it on the internet,” Sayeed said. “It really is a beautiful theme park.” Sayeed’s visit from online knowledge shows the park has managed to gain a following on the digital space too.

The park’s construction was initiated in 2006 by the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs. A private organisation built the park on 16.37 acres of land on condition of build, operate and transfer (BOT). The same company operated the park from 2006 to 2009. After this, Chattogram City Corporation ran it from 2010 till 2015. Since then, Well Enterprise has been running the park. The company has leased it for five years.

On the day of this correspondent’s visit, the park was brimming with visitors of all kinds. There were students, children, couples, adolescents, veterans -- park premises were occupied by every demographic category imaginable.

A band of Chattogram Government Women’s College students were visiting the park on the day. One of them, Turna Dasgupta, said she was mesmerised to see this many replicas of national and historical monuments together.

“I haven’t visited most of the landmarks displayed here, but at least I’m getting a taste of them with these replicas,” she said. “It’s like visiting the whole country in a few minutes’ walk.”

“These replicas feel almost real,” Monifa Sultana, another student, enthusiastically said while coming down from the stairs of Ahsan Manzil.

“I’ve never had the fortune to visit the real Ahsan Manzil, only knowing of it through photos and videos. It’s great that I get to have a glimpse of it from this very well made replica,” she told The Daily Star.

However, there were some grumblings about the high price of entry.

Tickets to the park are priced at Tk 150 for adults and Tk 120 for children, with one free ride, park manager Mohammad Ali told this correspondent.

“The tickets should remain below Tk 100 for adults and Tk 50 for students and children,” Sayeed from Cumilla said.

Asked about the high price of tickets, Mohammad Ali said, “Despite our wish, we’re unable to reduce prices due to the high maintenance cost of the park. We incurred heavy loss after we leased the park from the ministry and had to install many rides at a high cost.”

“We have recently invested Tk 40 lakh to introduce a new kids’ zone, but we are a little unsure over whether we will be able to make the money back within the lease period of five years,” he said.

But the park authorities aren’t aware of the visitors’ wish, and try what they can to mitigate the issue. “When school students come to the park for picnic, we give them a 50 percent discount,” Mohammad Ali said.

A total of 18 staffers run the park. It remains open from 10am to 8pm. Around 400 visitors come to the park on average every day.