Water park to open in Shanghai

A 600-million-yuan ($95.45 million) water park, Playa Maya, is scheduled to open to tourists in western Shanghai on May 1 next year.

The water park will be near and affiliated with the Shanghai Happy Valley amusement park, and will become one of the city's major entertainment facilities, said Wang Dansheng, deputy general manager of Shanghai Happy Valley, owned by Shanghai OCT Co Ltd.

Playa Maya, which will occupy 120,000 square meters, will have 12 sets of aquatic amusement facilities from the US and Canada, Wang said at the opening ceremony of Happy Valley Magic Festival, which will run from Sept 30 through Oct 7.

More than 20 magicians from dozens of countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, India, Indonesia and South Korea, will perform for visitors, he said.

"Facilities are being equipped at the water park, and things are on schedule," Wang said.

Shanghai Happy Valley, which opened in 2009, has more than 2 million visitors annually and earns about 60 million yuan ($9.5 million) a year.

"We need a new park to expand our business," Wang said.

The 900,000-square-meter amusement park has used 650,000 square meters for the first phase of its construction and set aside 120,000 square meters for the water park, leaving 130,000 square meters unused.

"We are working on a plan for the left part, trying to add to more amusement facilities and service functions including family holiday inns," he said.