Keypoints:
- Reliance Industries Ltd will build what it claims to be the world’s largest zoo in Gujarat’s Jamnagar.
- The zoo will house close to 100 different species of animals, birds and reptiles from India and across the world.
The Reliance Industries Limited is said to have received approvals from the central government to build what is claimed to be the “world’s biggest zoo” in Jamnagar where the company’s refinery complex is also located. A company official said that the zoo will be ready in two years and will be open for the public.
A pet project of Anant Ambani, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani’s youngest son, the zoo will be built on about 280 acres of land close to the company’s refinery project at Moti Khavdi near Jamnagar, the world’s largest oil refining complex where it operates a petrochemicals project as well.
The zoo is expected to open for public in the next two years if the project, which was delayed due to Covid-19, doesn’t face any further postponement, the executive said.
“It will be called ‘Greens Zoological, Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom’. All the required approvals from concerned central and state government authorities have already been obtained,” said Parimal Nathwani, RIL director (corporate affairs).
“World’s biggest zoo is going to come up at Jamnagar in Gujarat. This zoo is being developed by Reliance Industries and it will be called “Greens Zoological, Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom”. All the required approvals from concerned central and state government authorities have been received. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, work on this project has been delayed. We hope to have this zoo ready in two years’ time,” said Parimal Nathwani, Director-Corporate Affairs, RIL and a Rajya Sabha MP.
Senior officials said that the zoo may not be the “biggest in the world” in terms of area but it will house “biggest variety of birds and animals.” The Jamnagar zoo will be spread in over 250 acres of land.
The zoo will have sections like ‘Forest of India’, ‘Frog House’, ‘Insect Life’, ‘Dragon’s Land’, ‘Exotic Island’, ‘Wild Trail of Gujarat’ and ‘Aquatic Kingdom’ among others, as per the plan layout shared on the Central Zoo Authority’s website.
Various species, including barking deers, slender loris, sloth bears, fishing cats, komodo dragons, Indian wolves and Rosy pelicans are proposed to be attractions of the zoo, which will also house six each of crowned cranes, jaguars and African lions, besides 12 ostriches, 20 giraffes, 18 meerkats, 10 spectacled caiman, seven cheetahs, African elephants and nine Great Indian Bustards. The frog house will have about 200 amphibians while the aquatic kingdom will house around 350 fishes.
