New Aquarium

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(IN) Taraporewala Aquarium: 4 bids, work from June ....Swatee Kher

 

WITH the government receiving four bids for its renovation, the Taraporewala

Aquarium is on its way to becoming a major tourist attraction of the city.

If all goes well, the renovation work will start from June this year. Almost

a decade after the efforts to renovate the aquarium fizzled out; the idea

got a push in November last year when the government approved Floor Space

Index of 4 for the project.

 

The renovation, which will take two years to be completed, will to be

conducted on a BOT basis.

 

Four bidders have shown interest in the project, officials said. Two are

joint ventures between Indian, Singporean and Malayasian companies and two

are Australian companies. " Documents are being vetted by an all India panel

of lawyers for legal sanctity. The final bidding process can begin once we

get the documents, " said Ajay Saxena, adviser to the government for projects

undertaken by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The ADB is involved in

planning the renovation of the aquarium. " We will have the documents by next

weekend. The final bidding will begin by the end of June, " he added.

 

The plan to renovate the aquarium, which was constructed in May 1951 by the

fisheries department, was first proposed in 1998 by a Singaporean company.

But it withdrew after it found the government's terms unacceptable.

 

Till 2000, the renovation project was stuck in litigation between the

government and the Singapore company.

 

According to the plan, the renovated aquarium will be a fifth generation

aquarium, like the one in Beijing and Singapore, housing close to 150 exotic

species of aquatic animals in addition to 50 Indian species. Some of the

species expected to be displayed include the whale and the shark.

 

The aquarium now has 55 species.

 

URL: Indian Express, (Mumbai Newsline - Page No 1)