Bhubaneswar, Jan. 30: The state’s coastline is set to become the ace tourist-puller with grand tourism projects coming up here.

Progress is on in the oceanarium along Puri-Konark Marine Drive while the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation has begun another initiative in the form of a majestic aquarium in Puri town. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today laid the foundation stone for the novel aquarium project.

Planned near Urban Haat in Puri, the construction project for the aquarium to be titled Matsyodyan or Puri Aquarium has been chalked out. The state tourism department has handed over the project construction to the Centre for Environment, Ahmedabad, a centre of excellence under the Union ministry of forest and environment.

The total project cost is estimated to be approximately Rs 7.20 crore, said tourism authorities.

“Since Puri is the hot spot for tourists all year round, we were planning to come up with a project that would explore the site’s natural beauty since there are some avenues to discover the town’s religious and cultural aspects,” said tourism secretary Ashok Tripathy.

“Puri, being a beach city, we came up with the plan for an aquarium in the town. This will be smaller compared to the giant oceanarium along Marine Drive and yet have state-of-art facilities for visitors. The Centre for Environment will construct the aquarium on 2.404 acres on the patch of government land in front of Puri Urban Haat where a foundation stone was laid today,” he said.

The Centre for Environment is expected to tentatively complete the construction within two years and then it will operate the aquarium for five years.

In the initial concept drawings, the aquarium will have an interpretation centre, coffee house, watch tower, sheds for rest, lawn and pool with water games and the main aquarium.

“The aquarium will be housed inside a giant sculpture in shape of a fish. Another attraction is an installation of a life-size statue of Arjun balanced on a beam balance and aiming at a fish. This will be a sculpture in motion. The project is expected to turn the town into a bigger tourist hub. Tourists will now have the option to visit the aquarium after which they can shop for handloom handicrafts at Urban Haat and then enjoy Odisha cuisine at the food court started nearby,” said Bijay Kumar Jena, tourist officer of Puri.

In another development, construction for the oceanarium will begin shortly, said the tourism authorities.

“We have gone through various design plans for the Marine Drive Oceanarium. The huge water park-cum-gigantic aquarium will be constructed in PPP mode on about 20 acres. Bidding for the project is in its last phase,” said Tripathy.