Vikrant museum plan set to float again

Thirteen years after first having floated the proposal and after numerous attempts to get the project off the ground failed, the state government has finally decided to put forward fresh tenders for turning India’s decommissioned aircraft carrier Vikrant into a museum.

Thirteen years after first having floated the proposal and after numerous attempts to get the project off the ground failed, the state government has finally decided to put forward fresh tenders for turning India’s decommissioned aircraft carrier Vikrant into a museum.

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"We have floated fresh bids restructured in a way that there is more emphasis on setting up the museum," Ajay Saxena, Public-Private-Partnership expert who is helping the government with the project said.

Saxena said the earlier bidders did not share the government's vision and objective on setting up the museum and were more interested in the commercial aspect of the project.

Under the new terms, the bidder will have to submit designs for the museum to a committee headed by the Chief Secretary for which he will receive the technical points.

Only bidders who get the stipulated points will be allowed to go for the financial bidding.
A proposal was mooted in 1997 to convert the ship into a commercially viable maritime museum with the help of a private player. The state was hoping to rope in a private investor to transform the five-storey, 16,000 tonne warship, decommissioned in 1997, into a museum featuring a convention centre, a restaurant and also a mall.