Bhasin Group to set up India's biggest aquarium this year

NEW DELHI: Delhi-based real estate company Bhasin Group has tied up with Singapore-based Andover Leisure Pte to build a 100,000 sq ft aquarium — which would be bigger than Singapore’s Sentosa and Atlanta’s Georgia Aquariums. It will come up in a mall run by the company in Greater Noida. The aquarium, to be titled Blue Planet, is expected to cost $9 million (Rs 45 crore).

The joint venture company executing the aquarium project will import over 5,000 species of fish from as far as South Africa, South America and Australia, apart from collecting the best Indian varieties. Andover, which has proven expertise, will also be bringing in South African penguins sharks, jellyfish walrus, octopus and also dolphins.

The aquarium is part of a very large, 3.2 million sq ft project that will comprise, among others, a retail mall and a 270-room Sheraton hotel. “We are developing the entire complex as a tourist destination where people can come and stay with their families,” said SS Bhasin, managing director of Bhasin Group.

The Rs 700 crore so-called mixed-use project will be financed through a mix of internal accruals and bank funding.
The aquarium will include an experience tunnel running through the aquarium, mermaid shows, fish feeding and synchronised swimming with the fishes. The mall would include gondola rides.

Bhasin said he expects an average footfall of 5,000 people daily in the aquarium and as many as 25,000 in the mall. “There is a strong need for entertainment options in the country,” he says.