All eyes on Minister’s decision as ZAK is keen to revive aquarium project

Efforts to revive a decade-old defunct aquarium project in Mysuru are underway, awaiting government approval for completion.

Fresh efforts are being made to revive the defunct aquarium project which has not seen the light of the day even after completing 10 years of its concept as the Zoo Authority of Karnataka is hoping to get a nod from the State government for taking the long-delayed and much-awaited project to its logical end.

The half-constructed structure of the aquarium, adjacent to the Karanji Lake Nature Park (KLNP), is languishing with several failed attempts to resuscitate it and develop it into Mysuru’s another tourist attraction like the Mysuru zoo and the Karanji Lake Nature Park.

The project was originally planned and executed by the Mysuru City Corporation a decade ago but was later handed over to the Mysuru Zoo unable to complete it for various reasons, primarily funds’ scarcity with the escalation of the project cost.

In 2018, after it got the project from the MCC, the zoo management did make efforts to kickstart it but there was tepid response from the consultants/agencies when the tenders were invited for preparing the detailed project report (DPR). The idea was to develop the project into a state-of-the-art aquarium, linking it with the existing zoo and Karanji Lake Nature Park, and collectively developing them into a hub with added tourist facilities.

With the onus on the ZAK to realise the dormant project, the meeting of the Zoo Authority of Karnataka in Bengaluru, which was chaired by Minister for Forest Eshwar Khandre, discussed the project in detail, its future and the steps to be taken.

The aquarium is located between the zoo and the KLNP, and has become a sort of an eyesore, with the structure languishing with no headway.

It appears that the officials have apprised the Minister on the need for kickstarting the project, preparing the DPR and studying the financial feasibility if the project has to be taken up on a PPP model. The opinion is to keep the existing infrastructure and expand it further to develop the place into a mega aquarium that can be another attraction for the visitors.