Almost a decade after the efforts to renovate the Taraporewala Aquarium fizzled out, the idea finally got a push on Friday with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh approving a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 4 for the project.

In 1998, a Singaporean company was roped in to renovate the aquarium, which was started in May 1951 by the fisheries department. But it withdrew from the joint venture as it did not find the government’s terms acceptable. The renovation project got stuck in litigation between government and the Singapore company till 2000.

Since then, the aquarium has been in dire straits.

Today, after a presentation by urban development secretary Manu Kumar Srivastava, the government gave its go ahead to increase the FSI from 1.33 to 4. The renovation will be on BOT basis, on a concession period of 25 years.

“Work is likely to start in three months and the entire construction period is two years,” said U P S Madan, Project Manager, Mumbai Transformation Support Unit. Four companies from Singapore and Malaysia and two from Australia have been shortlisted.

The city can now look forward to a fifth generation aquarium, like the one in Beijing and Singapore.

The Taraporewala aquarium will then have close to 150 exotic species of aquatic animals in addition to 50 Indian species. Some of the species expected to be displayed include the whale and the shark. The aquarium now has 55 species.

“It will be a fifth generation aquarium. The final design will be decided after the final bidder is chosen. It could even be a seven-storey structure,” said Madan. “The new aquarium will obviously be costly and may be out of reach of the lower middle-class. The older building will have an aquarium, to be kept open for visitors at a lower cost, for them.”

According to Madan, there is a provision for a dolphin show pool, though it’s not mandatory. The new aquarium will have restaurants, an interactive section and educational sections. It will have a 50-metre-long 180 degree tunnel.