Tourism Ministry plans new sand-based theme park
KUALA LUMPUR, DECEMBER 17 - In a bid to boost its tourism status in the region, the Ministry of Tourism has announced a plan to build a new theme park that will cater to visitors from the Middle East. Termed as 1Pasirland and planned for construction in Shah Alam, the theme park will cost approximately RM500 million to build and will be twice the size of the Sunway Lagoon theme park.
“We already have had so many water parks in the country,” said Dato’ Seri Dr. Ng Yen Yen, the Minister of Tourism. “And since there are already winter parks, summer parks and even space-themed parks in the rest of the world, so [the Ministry] thought of doing something different for a change. After careful discussion with many tourism agencies and research from governmental departments, we decided to build up on the attraction to the Middle Eastern demographic.”
Instead of using water, the 1Pasirland theme park will expound primarily on what the Middle East is famous for; its vast open deserts and sand. Amongst the 1Pasirland attractions will include a a roller coaster ride through the story of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, a 50-metre-long sand slide, a sand storm arena with sand jets for visitors to spray their friends with. “We will also have sand spas where visitors will be able to submerge themselves in, just like mud spas!” Dr. Ng was known to say excitedly.
While the 1Pasirland theme park will be built to cater for Arab tourists, the park will also add in a touch of Malaysian culture. Instead of using belly dancers, visitors to the 1Pasirland park will be treated to a wide range of burqa-wearing dangdut and joget performances.
According to Dr. Ng, Shah Alam was chosen because it was the closest thing Malaysia had when it came to deserts. “We didn’t want to bulldoze another jungle to build another theme park, especially after the Prime Minister had just come back from COP15, so we had to go for something with a bit more open space. Shah Alam was the best choice because not only is it full of barren wastelands, its also a metaphorical desert when it comes to entertainment.”
The Ministry of Tourism has also mentioned that the construction of the 1Pasirland park will require over 100,000 tons of sand. Because of this, the government is looking forward to talks with its neighbours, including the Singaporean government to make way for the importing of sand.
December 19th, 2009 at 7:52 am
They already have Putrajaya, so why do they have to build a sand park.