Visakhapatnam: Despite stiff resistance from the civil society, Vuda is moving swiftly to appoint a private consultant to operate and maintain the Central Park which is under development at Asilmetta, in the heart of the city.
Recently, Vuda issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) again calling bids from the consultants to prepare techno-financial feasibility report and bid process management, including preparation of Concession Agreement.
Though a similar RFP was issued in December, last year, Vuda could not finalise a suitable consultant due to reasons unknown and issued another RFP recently.
The park is coming up in a sprawling 20 acres of valuable land.
Earlier attempts by the state government to handover the most valuable land to private parties to develop it commercially had been opposed by civil society. A group of NGOs approached courts which directed the government to develop lung space with greenery.
Recently, another two attractions, waterfalls and an animal kingdom, were planned at the park. During a recent vist to the park, Vuda vice-chairman T. Babu Rao Naidu directed the officials to add these two new facilities in the park.
Observing the grand entrance without any major attraction and finding the vast area vacant, Mr Baburao Naidu generated the idea of creating artificial waterfalls, making use of the 12-feet high pylon base available there. He asked the officials to design the waterfalls with granite material and water falling from a boat at the top. Dolphins will also be appearing in the boat.
The proposed animal park with green concept will exist beside the ‘bonsai area in which models of the animals will be framed with iron mesh and green cover with creepers to their shapes.
Animals and birds that are mostly liked by all age groups such as elephants, rabbit, peacock and others would be carved out. There are plans to make the park a major attraction both for people in the city and for tourists.
