The decision was taken at a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi on Monday morning.

A sum of Rs 1 crore has been earmarked for the DPR and this amount will be a component of the total project cost.

``A list of consultants will be forwarded to the state government's high level committee by the Indian Navy for shortlisting,'' a senior bureaucrat told Express Newsline. The consultant will be decided by the state Chief Secretary P Subramaniam.

Also present at today's meeting were Deputy CM Gopinath Munde, ministers for planning and finance and senior bureaucrats and heads of various departments.

The DPR will estimate the total project cost and how it is to be executed as such a project has never been attempted in the country. However, navalofficials feel that the expertise for this project will have to come from abroad for precisely this reason.

In its project report to the state government submitted last year, the navy has shortlisted two US consultants, Western Ocean Enterprises and Scott Consultants.

Rear Admiral James Scott of the Texas-based Scott Consultants has already converted two of the US navy's aircraft carriers, the Hornet and the Lexington, into museums and is considered the foremost authority in the world on the subject.

In a communique to Express Newsline Scott considered the project to be entirely feasible. The Vikrant is a far smaller ship than the Hornet and the Lexington and therefore easier to convert.

``Should my company be fortunate enough to participate in this project, I would anticipate a less than two year time for completion when the ship is made available and financial considerations for her conversion are firm.'

``During the conversion, personnel will encounter problems regarding ballast, safetyconversions, electricity, water and fire mains, which should not involve complex marine engineering works. However, should such be encountered, the Indian Navy and Indian engineers are quite capable of providing timely solutions,' Scott stated.