Coming soon: India's first Sea World in Maharashtra

                                                 Tondawali, some 450 km south of the city, is an obscure
but dainty village in Malvan, Sindhudurg, in the Konkan belt in the state.The state government has approved a Rs.-509 crore project to build India's first oceanarium here, or the Sea World.

           

                                                A simulated sea will be created along with that of a real lake. And finally, people will be able to enjoy a mock Antarctica.The proposed airport at Chipi, to come up by 2015, is just 12 km away and can be reached within 20 minutes.

                                                According to officials, the project will be taken up on a Private Public Partnership (PPP) model, and the state has approved the project with a willingness to provide Rs. 120 crore as the viability gap funding.

                                              The project will attract 13 lakh visitors in the first year itself, and the figure will cross 43 lakh by the tenth year, the tourism department claims. Other than that, it will also try to woo the 28 lakh holidaymakers to Goa, only around 100 km from the site.

                                                    

                                               Officials said that it would generate employment opportunities for the locals as well. The site in Tondawali was favoured on account of the following merits: good sea water quality, attractive land topography, good accessibility to beach and backwater, rich natural beauty with sandy beaches, backwater and forest cover, sources from the tourism department said.