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It's snowing south of Vindhyas, artificially though

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Phalguna Jandhyala Hyderabad
Last Updated : Mar 01 2013 | 2:40 PM IST
It was after a holiday with his family in Manali that M Venkateswara Rao, managing director of Ocean Park Multitech Ltd, conceived the idea of bringing snow down south.
 
According to him, though the concept was successful in places like the US and parts of Europe, no Asian country replicated the same. He said that the idea first came to his mind in 1999, a couple of years after the company's first project, Ocean Park, started.
 
"The three days that I spent with my family in Manali inspired me to think of a theme park where one could play with snow. But then, I was apprehensive because of the climate here," Rao said.
 
"But when we came to know that a similar park was opened in Singapore, we were confident that our project would be successful here," he added.
 
"But after the project got underway we wanted to make the snow which is as close to nature as possible. The other parks in the world use the Australian technology of using liquid nitrogen or use the Japanese ice-flaking method," he said.
 
According to Rao, Snow World is the only park in the world where the snow is made by mixing water and air as it happens in nature.
 
Explaining on how the thought came, Rao said, "There is no snow as such in nature. It is formed only when water combines with air at extreme temperatures. So we brought that process artificially to create the snow."
 
He said that the process was successful only after three months of experimenting. "Sometimes only water or air used to come through the guns. But after three months of experimenting, we succeeded," he recalled.
 
Another reason for persisting with this method, according to him, was that children by mistake put the snow in the mouth and if it is made using liquid nitrogen or by the flaking method it will be harmful to their health.
 
The company initially invested Rs 13.5 crore raised through debt and internal accruals in creating what is today the world's largest indoor snow theme park.
 
Speaking about the future additions to the park, he said, "Later in the month we would be launching the first indoor go-karting track, and by the end of April, a snow view restaurant and a city of living dead. A replica of the rain forest region would also come up in the same premises. All these attractions would cost us around Rs 5 crore."
 
The company is planning to expand its concepts to other cities in the country as well. "We are looking at having joint ventures (JV) to expand our business. To start with, we have formed a JV with an NRI company to have similar parks in Delhi and Jaipur," Rao said. The proposed parks will be open to public from next summer, he added.
 
The 44-year-old entrepreneur is a chartered accountant by profession and practiced from 1984 until 1989. He later shifted his profession to being a real estate dealer and also got involved in construction activities.
 
In his free time Rao likes to spend time with his family by taking them out for short trips abroad or by spending time at either of the theme parks.
 
"We are also looking at having some additional features by the start of the vacations this year at Ocean Park and will also be adding some more small attractions inside Snow World," he said.
 
In the last one year, around four lakh people visited Snow World and the park earned a revenue of around Rs 8 crore. "We expect the number to increase this year as new attractions are being added," he said.

 
 

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First Published: Feb 16 2005 | 12:00 AM IST

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