INS Vikrant may finally leave choppy waters

Though the final bidding is yet to be conducted, the deck is steadily being cleared for the much-touted Rs124-crore project aimed at converting the INS Vikrant, decommissioned by the Indian Navy, into the Indian Museum Services (IMS) Vikrant - a state-of-the-art maritime museum.

While the Ministry of Environment & Forest Department has granted environmental clearance to the project by issuing a no-objection certificate, BMC has given its assurance to develop the roads leading to Oyster Rock near Colaba’s Botanical Garden.

This is where the decommissioned aircraft carrier will be anchored for its conversion into India’s first on-the-sea naval museum. PH Warwadekar, deputy planner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) confirmed.

According to Warwadekar, who is also in-charge of the IMS Vikrant project for the development authority, instead of extending the total fund of Rs10 crore to the project, the municipal corporation has agreed to spend more than half of its due share on the development of roads.

At a meeting to review Maharashtra’s ‘Quick Win’ projects with Sanjay Ubale, state secretary for special projects, the civic body said it had acquired two stretched plots close to the jetty. The corporation said that the bidding process would start once the Director General of Naval Projects (DGNP) submits its action agenda. 

The DGNP will be executing the museum conversion by appointing a reputed firm in décor and fabrication - reportedly the only impediment left in project execution.

According to a DGNP source, the final move to float the tender for the carrier’s conversion was at the last stage and will be given the green signal at the DGNP’s next apex body meeting at its Delhi headquarters. “It can come up at anytime. It may be on World Military Day on October 18,” a DGNP official said.

While MMRDA has already released its Rs5 crore equity fund for the project, the state government has made open its Rs10 crore kitty for the museum.

The municipal corporation will develop road stretches in three phases. Next month, the meeting of the board of trustees of the Vikrant Museum Trust - which has representation of all participating government bodies - will be convened to review the project.