PM opens water theme park

HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani yesterday inaugurated Aqua Park, Qatar’s first water-themed leisure centre.

Scores of VIPs, affiliates and partners attended the formal opening of the first phase of the mega project. They were welcomed by dozens of mascots and entertainers.

The general manager of Al Jazera Entertainment Enterprises Company, which manages the Aqua Park Qatar, welcomed the guests. The company’s executive director, Ibrahim Rashid al-Haroon, thanked the project’s supporters.

Al Jazera had signed a managing contract with the developers in December 2009 for a period of five years. The 100,000sq m-park, off Salwa Road, had a soft opening earlier on September 24.

The first phase, featuring a giant “wave pool”, a “lazy river”, an “activity pool”, a slides complex, a family pool, an exotic village and a “dry” corner, covers an area of 50,000sq m. Its parking area can accommodate 500 cars.

In later phases, more rides and features such as go-carts will be included. A 1,500sq m pool area serves children under-10. Water slides range from 14m to 20m in height. At the event yesterday evening, a documentary about various stages and development of the project was shown to guests.

They were then taken on a guided tour. A nifty feature of the park is boomerango, a tube ride where people accelerate down a steep chute before travelling high up the opposite wall, experiencing momentary weightlessness, before sliding back down up and over a hump and finishing in a splash pool.

Adjacent to the aqua park will be a 300,000sq m resort as well as a shopping complex which is expected to be completed by June 2011.

The park is open seven days a week. Fridays are earmarked for families and Tuesdays for women. Entry per person is QR100 and allows unlimited access to rides. For a family of six, a promotional rate of QR400 is being offered.