PM Narendra Modi.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a national maritime heritage complex at a Harappan-era port site at Gujarat’s Lothal.
The site will have a lighthouse museum, ship-building experience and docks. The Lothal town, a Harappan site, will be developed as a part of this complex. This will be the biggest maritime heritage complex in the world.
The museum, which will showcase India’s maritime history stretching across 4,500 years, will be built by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterway (MoPSW). The government, in a release, said that the masterplan of the museum has been prepared by renowned architect Hafeez Contractor and the construction will be carried out by Tata Projects Ltd. The project is to be developed in various phases.
In the first part of the first phase, a museum with six galleries, which will also include galleries dedicated to the Indian Navy and Coast Guard with external naval artefacts such as INS Nishank, Sea Harrier war aircraft, and UH3 helicopter among others, will also feature a replica model of the Lothal township, an open aquatic gallery, and a jetty walkway.
In the second half of the first phase, eight more galleries will be constructed, including a light house museum which is planned to be world’s tallest, a parking facility for about 1,500 cars, food hall, medical centre, etc.
In the second phase, Coastal States Pavilions will be developed by respective coastal states and Union Territories, in addition to a hospitality zone with maritime theme eco-resort and museum hotels. A maritime institute and hostel and four theme-based parks – on maritime and naval, climate change, monuments park and adventure and amusement themes – will be built.