New recreation facilities at Hatirjheel

Hatirjheel, a recreational spot of the capital, is going to offer the visitors two new entertainment facilities — amphitheatre and musical dancing fountain — from April 13, a day before the celebrations of Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bengali New Year.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will formally launch the two modern entertainment facilities on the day.
Hatirjheel project officials said that the amphitheatre, also called as open-air venue, had been constructed at a cost of Tk 12.48 crore at Hatirjheel Lake to host all sorts of entertainment programmes.
They said that around 2,000 people would be able to enjoy any entertainment or cultural programme sitting in three galleries of the amphitheatre, which looks like a floating round stage, at a time. 
Hatirjheel project officer Major Kazi Shakil Hossian said that they took two years to complete the construction of the amphitheatre, which is a composite structure of concrete steel. 
He said that they also completed the works of commissioning musical dancing fountain, the largest one in the South Asia, at Hatirjheel Lake at a cost of Tk 19.10 crore in only five months. 
According to project documents, the floating musical dancing fountain has been commissioned near the island known as ‘Dhaka Eye’, development works of which are now underway, on 1980 squire-meter-area to entertain the visitors after the evening.
Besides beautification, the fountain would act as aerator to supply oxygen to the water of Hatirjheel as 144 pump machines would have to be operated regularly, the project documents stated.
Hatirjheel project director Jamal Akhter Bhuiyan told New Age that they would provide all the facilities to the visitors to develop the site as an entertainment hub. 
He said that they were constructing a multi-storey building, with ten floors for car parking, to house Hatirjheel office, a museum, a conference room and a restaurant.
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha in its February 27 board meeting decided to allow 27 business entities to set up food shops and three others to operate public toilets at different points of Hatirjheel.
The food shops, the already-introduced circular bus and water taxi service, parking lot and the entertainment facilities would act as earning source of the project to bear its future maintenance cost. 
Since the opening, the project on January 2, 2013, Hatirjheel has drawn huge visitors and become one of the gathering hubs for the city people, especially on the weekend and festivals.
The cultural affairs ministry would construct an opera house with state-of-the-art facilities in the Hatirjheel project area to host international standard cultural functions.
Jamal said that Hatirjheel project office site near Mohanagar housing area has been primarily selected for construction of the opera house.

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