Foreign consultant roped in for Vikrant

MUMBAI, July 16: The ambitious Rs 76-crore plan to convert the Vikrant into a maritime museum will be executed with the help of foreign c...

MUMBAI, July 16: The ambitious Rs 76-crore plan to convert the Vikrant into a maritime museum will be executed with the help of foreign consultants.8220;We can tell how long the dry docking and renovation of the Vikrant will take since we regularly undertake these operations. But as we don8217;t have expertise on converting the ship into a museum, we will have to hire foreign experts,8221; stated an official.

The navy has zeroed in on the Texas-based retired Admiral Jamie Scott to execute the project. Admiral Scott helped convert the US Navy8217;s aircraft carrier USS Lexington into a maritime museum at Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1996. Scott is currently working as a consultant on a project to convert the USA8217;s first supercarrier the USS Forrestal into a museum in Philadelphia. The Admiral8217;s firm, Scott Consultants, will provide consultancy services for the Vikrant project for carrying out a detailed study to assess the cost estimates and project schedules. Consultancy fees have been worked out at approximately Rs 1crore.

The state government has stated that the crucial Rs 5 crore for immediately dry docking the Vikrant would be made available soon. 8220;Since we have committed ourselves to the project, we cannot back out,8221; said State Trade and Commerce Minister Pramod Navalkar. The CM is keen on implementing the project and organising funds should not be a problem, he stated.

The government will also set up a Vikrant Project Committee to examine all aspects of converting the warship into a maritime museum. It will comprise state government officials, bureaucrats, technical experts and representatives from the navy and port trust. A meeting of the state government8217;s panel headed by Nalinakshan would be called next week. The committee, comrpsing MbPT Deputy Chairperson Rajiv Sinha and the navy8217;s Commodore I K Saluja was set up by the state government earlier this year to speed up the Vikrant proposal.

However, rumbles of dissent against the project have already begun. The Akhil Maharashtra Machchimar Kriti Samitihave threatened to stage dharnas in Colaba opposing the choice of the Jamshedji Bunder site.

Samiti president Damodar Tandel said grouting the Vikrant near the Radio Club would affect the livelihood of small fishermen. He urged the government to look at the alternative sites near the MbPT8217;s botanical garden behind the Colaba bus station or the Oyster Rock site.

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