Children to enjoy hot-air balloon ride at Kankaria

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) balloon project at the Kankaria as promised earlier by the civic body might not have taken off. However, kids in the city need not be disappointed. AMC will fulfill its promise by providing hot-air balloon ride, but temporarily.

AMC will set up a hot-air balloon as an added attraction for the kids at the Kids Carnival which will be organised at Kankaria from December 25, 2009.  The balloon will soar as high as 150 meters and it will have capacity to carry about 8 kids at a time. The civic body has joined hands with the Balloon Federation of India for the project for seven days during the Kankaria Carnival, said sources in the AMC.

Sources said that the civic body has submitted application to the commissioner of police and the collector for security permission.  “We expect that the permission from the concerned authority would be granted very soon,” said a source. However, the charges for the rides have not been finalised yet.

The civic body had sanctioned the proposal for setting up the balloon project at Kankaria way back in June 2009. It expected the project to be operational within six months.

However, the city-based company Sky Wonder Pvt Ltd that had been awarded the contract has failed to start the project for some reason. The civic body has served notice to cancel the contract, said sources in AMC. AMC is also mulling the option of inviting other companies for the same project, said sources.