Kothwalguda to house India’s largest aquarium

The brand new addition, which will further scale up the Hyderabad’s aesthetics, will feature wondrous tunnels in the midst of blue waters and huge enclosures with myriad sea creatures

Hyderabad: Hyderabad is all set to have the country’s largest aquarium, which will be housed at Echo Hill Park in Kothwalguda.

The brand new addition, which will further scale up the city’s aesthetics, will feature wondrous tunnels in the midst of blue waters and huge enclosures with myriad sea creatures — in line with similar mega-structures in Singapore, Shanghai and Dubai.

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Being developed by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), the tunnel aquarium at Kothwalguda will enable visitors to walk through and provide an unhindered 180-degree view of the surrounding underwater life.

On Monday, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Minister KT Rama Rao responded to a query from a netizen on Twitter, who urged him to ensure that Hyderabad also has a world-class tunnel aquarium of its own. “We are building India’s largest aquarium and aviary at Kothwalguda and the work is in progress. Will have Arvind Kumar and HMDA share pictures and other details,” the Minister, referring to MA&UD Special Chief Secretary Arvind Kumar, posted.

In addition to developing the aquarium complex, the HMDA is also building the country’s largest aviary at Echo Hill Park. “The plan is to make this lung space a major tourist spot. An adventure zone, butterfly park, resort, food courts, a 2.5-km broad walk and a suspension bridge will also come up at this park. The HMDA has already invited tenders for the development of a resort, food courts and adventure zone on a design-built-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) mode,” officials said.

The resort will have a minimum of 50 units of wooden cottages, each measuring at least 500 sft with facilities equivalent to a 3-star hotel.