Heritage Park

The novelty of the heritage park is that it combines the concept of education and entertainment. The park consists of replicas of well-known heritage sites of the country such as Ahsan Manzil and the Sat Gambuj Mosque, and will also include ten different rides to entertain children and adults. The entrance price is a reasonable Tk 60.

The heritage park is thus an excellent means through which the nation's children -- or anyone else for that matter -- can get an opportunity to see the panorama of our nation's cultural heritage. It is to be hoped that those whose minds are opened by a first exposure to the nation's heritage will be thus encouraged to journey one day to see the real thing, and that respect for our cultural heritage and support for its preservation will thereby be enhanced.

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The park is a superb way to open young people's eyes to the history and culture of our nation in a way that is fun and accessible. Hopefully the park will kindle the kind of interest and enthusiasm that is often hard to reproduce in the class-room or in text-books. The park may even have the effect of giving a boost to tourism in the country, and at the very least, will shine a spotlight on the actual heritage sights and help ensure that they continue to be preserved.

The government should take steps to encourage this kind of enterprise which has such scope for educational benefit. Measures the government might wish to take in order to promote projects such as the heritage park are tax breaks, allocation of land on favourable terms, loans, etc.

There is no doubt that the government must be vigilant to make sure that assistance only goes to projects that have a legitimate educational purpose. But it seems to us that projects such as heritage parks are good candidates for public-private partnerships that the government should promote, as they provide a social good and at the same time are likely to be profitable enterprises if conceived and run properly.