The town of Pripyat was created in 1970 mainly for the purpose of housing the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear plant. After reactor no. 4 of the plant exploded, creating the world's worst nuclear accident (26 April 1986), the town of 47,000 was evacuated. The park including this ferris wheel was to open on May 1st of that year. It has never been used, and the town will remain too dangerous to habitate for several hundred years.
http://blog.thecheaproute.com/chernobyl-pripyat-town-ukraine/