The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has proposed to fund the Vishwamitri project in its annual budget draft, even as its ambitious project of shifting the Sayajibaug Zoo to a new complex at Ajwa Sarovar is awaiting attention.

Those concerned with the project admitted that it is moving at a snail's pace due to lack of funds. While the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) funds a portion of the project annually, VMC has not been able to fund its own project. This despite the fact that the CZA had allocated Rs 1.8 crore by 2008. Senior CZA officials who visited Sayajibaug Zoo in 2008 had raised eyebrows over the slow pace of the work.

The project was conceived around 2003 and CZA had issued several warnings to VMC to shift the existing zoo, which had sustained severe damage during floods.

But more than five years after the project was initiated, VMC has constructed only two enclosures and work is on to develop the internal road.

"The entire project depends on CZA grants. We have received the grant for developing five enclosures; two of them are ready and the work for the remaining three is going on. We can move ahead only after CZA gives us the annual grant. It is not certain how much money they will give us since they release grants for all zoos in the country," said C B Patel, the executive engineer who is handling zoo construction.