Karnataka’s first tunnel aquarium at Cubbon Park

BENGALURU: Karnataka is all set to have a long tunnel aquarium at Cubbon Park in Bengaluru. The Department of Fisheries in association with a Bengaluru-based agency is developing the aquarium under Private Public Partnership model. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will lay the foundation stone for the project on July 4.

The tunnel aquarium is expected to house more than 30 varieties of ornamental aqua animals and will have 60,000 litres of ocean water. “It will be 24 feet in length, 10 feet wide and 15 feet in height,” said S Nandakumar, Managing Director of Namma Bengaluru Aqua Private Limited, which is a partner under the PPP model. Similar tunnel aquariums have been developed in Singapore, Dubai and China. In India, there is one in Gujarat. But this will be the first-of-its-kind in Karnataka, he said.

A Koi Pond with one lakh litres of water in it is being developed. “These are bigger ponds with bigger fish measuring up to 1.5 feet. The fish will be of different colours and visitors can feed them. We are planning to have at least 150 such fish”, Nandakumar said.

A museum with different varieties of aquariums and fish with hi-tech facilities will be an added attraction. There will also be facility to train entrepreneurs who want take up fishing. The aquarium has been allotted 17,000 square feet of space of which 2,000 square feet will be utilised initially.

‘Aquarium will be a world-class attraction’

“We have sufficient space to develop it into a world-class tourist attraction,’’  Nandakumar added.
The existing aquarium constructed in 1983 has not been renovated even once. It generates an annual revenue of Rs 12 lakh and there is a need to renovate it, said Fisheries Minister S Angara. According to the minister, work will be taken up without damaging the original structure.

According to sources, the ticket fare of the aquarium is likely to be fixed at Rs 80 for adults and Rs 25 for children which can be increased to Rs 100 and Rs 40 respectively during weekends. Ticket fare will be increased once every three years.