MUMBAI: Thailand-based HKS Designers and Consultant International Company has beaten eight contenders to win the Rs100-crore project to modernise the Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, best-known as Byculla Zoo. The company is associated with the Portico Group, which has undertaken master plans for 37 zoos globally.
The company’s master plan proposal, including providing project management consultancy, now awaits the approval of the Standing Committee of the BMC. The next step is that the corporation will enter into a contract with HKS and allot it Rs4.39 cr to undertake the work.
When the expressions of interest (EOI) were finally opened in July, four firms remained in the race - HKS, Bernard Harrison & Friends (Singapore), Zoological Society of London, and STUP Consultants in association with Ayers Saint Gross, New York. But the Zoological Society backed out of the project after November 30 citing shortage of time, while STUP asked for a month’s extension to prepare its documents. The latter’s request was denied because the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) had made it mandatory to prepare the zoo’s master plan by March 2007. In the finals, HKS pipped Bernard Harrison & Friends for having better marks on technical expertise, experience and the lowest tender.
After making Rs25-crore provision in last year’s budget, the BMC is planning to set up an empowered trust under the chairmanship of the mayor, wildlife experts and civic officials to look after the day-to-day running of the zoo. “The master plan will give us a strategic plan to tackle all issues related to animals, veterinarians, enclosures, security and records. It will be run by professionals with a curator with wildlife degree and a full-time administrator,” says RA Rajeev, additional municipal commissioner (city). Funded by the BMC, the Rs100-crore project will be completed in three years.
Animal Farm
Total area: 53 acres
Mammals: 212 of 21 species
Birds: 401 of 41 species
Reptiles: 54 of 10 species
Cages: 29
Visitors: 8,000 daily
