Pakistan has plans to open up an amusement park in the town that Osama bin Laden was killed.
Reuters reported that the build is projected to cost $30 million and will be an amusement park and outdoor activity center on the edge of Abbottabad where Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces in 2011 in a secret raid.
The park is set to be 50-acres and could eventually grow to 500 acres, reported TIME.
"The project will take five years to complete," Jamaluddin Khan, the deputy provincial minister for tourism said to Reuters.
He also said that the project will include a mini golf course, a zoo, water sports, paragliding and rock climbing.
The exact location where Bin Laden lived, a large villa, has been demolished and senior regional official Khalid Omarazai has advised that the government build houses for local officials in its place.
"The government officers in Abbottabad have been facing residential problems and we have enough space now where bin Laden's compound was demolished," he said to Reuters.
Syed Aqil who is the minister for tourism and sports in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said the project was not about changing Abbottabad's image. He said to the AFP that the park has nothing to do with Osama bin Laden." He added that it was "to promote tourism and amusement facilities in the whole province."
Abbottabad is in the Himalayan foothills and about 4000 ft above sea level. The city is 75 miles from Islamabad and was virtually anonymous until Osama Bin Laden's death in 2011.
Abbottabad's tourism website, tourism.gov.pk says "It is a charming town spread out over several low, refreshingly cool and green hills.
It is a popular summer resort. It serves as a base for trips to Kaghan valley and the Gallies. PTDC maintains a Tourist Information Centre here to facilitate the visitors. Places worth visiting in and around Abbottabad are; Ilyasi Mosque with a water spring, Shimla hill view point. Thandiani is another attractive hill resort 30 km east of Abbottabad at an altitude of 8,800 feet."
When the raid occurred, Pakistan was angered that the U.S. did the raid without its permission. The story of the hunt for Bin Laden was recently featured in the movie Zero Dark Thirty. BBC reported that the film is currently being boycotted in Pakistan.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
