After being shut for over a year now, the renovated government aquarium at Cubbon Park will be open to visitors in November. This is the first renovation since its inauguration in 1983.
The new-look facility boasts a tunnel aquarium, a Koi fish pond, and touch pods for visitors to feel the fish.
“A huge pond with close to 2-lakh litre capacity will host the Koi fish, a highly pigmented and beautiful species. A tunnel aquarium with a capacity of 60,000 litres is also being constructed,” said S Nanda Kumar, director of Namma Bengaluru Aquarium Limited, a private firm that is working on the project under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model with the Fisheries Department.
Every exhibit has a different aquascaping. The first floor has theme-based aquariums depicting the famous places of Karnataka — from the Sahyadris to the Netrani Island — and the fish species particular to the region.
“The second floor is dedicated to species-specific aquariums with indigenous and global ornamental fish species,” Nanda Kumar said.
To enhance the experience and keep the facility interactive, a few exhibits will be installed with touch pods that allow visitors to feel the species.
The revamped aquarium will also have a museum and an aquarium store.
Steep hike in entry fee
Since the project has been taken up on a PPP model, the private company will run the aquarium for nearly 30 years, and the ticket prices are set to go up drastically from the earlier Rs 10 to Rs 80.
Fisheries Department officials maintained that there was an immediate need to revamp the facility. “The building is old and there were a few problems. Also, many exhibits did not have a life support system,” a senior official said.
Another official pointed out that the footfall at the facility had come down drastically and the revamp would attract more visitors.
“Though Cubbon Park and Bal Bhavan had a lot of visitors, not even 50% of them visited the aquarium,” the official said.
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