THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Work on the Biodiversity Park coming up at Vallakadavu boat jetty will be over this year, according to Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSSB) officials. Department of Tourism has given the jetty to the Board on a 30-year-lease, so that a Biodiversity Museum and a model aquatic ecosystem could be developed here. Board Chairman Oommen V Oommen said that works are progressing at a fast pace and should be over this year.
“This year, Biodiversity Board has allocated Rs 1.5 crore for the park at Vallakadavu. Apart from this, the project can use Rs 25 lakh from the Urban Environment Improvement Programme. The refurbishing work by Nirmithi Kendra has been allocated another Rs 25 lakh,” said K P Laladhas, Biodiversity Board member secretary.
Kerala State Nirmithi Kendra has undertaken the repair and electrification of the 5,000-square-feet building at the jetty. The walls inside have been painted and the wood work in the building has been burnished with French polish, according to Nirmithi Kendra officials. Satheesh Kumar, Nirmithi Kendra supervisor, says, “We will paint the outside walls right at the end. The boundary walls will also be raised.”
The building has been wired as per a new electrification layout, so that the museum can have a 3D Theatre and LCD displays. The museum will be further developed by Kerala State Science and Technology Museum. There will be models depicting the unique biodiversity of Kerala, like the below-sea level farming of Kuttanad or the biodiversity of Agasthyamala.
The water body in front of the building will be cleaned and turned into a model ecosystem. Fish, frogs and turtles will be introduced to the water. Though bound by a stone foundation, the water body is connected to the Parvathy Puthanar.
Currently, there is a strong current of clear water which seeps from the compound towards the river. But in rainy season, care has to be taken to ensure that the water body is not polluted by the Puthanar’s murky water. Attention is also needed to ensure that fish and other resources, which are to be added to the water body, should not skip into the river. To arrest the same, the water will be sealed using an environment-friendly method, according to Biodiversity Board officials.
Archaeology experts will be contacted to renovate a shack with corrugated iron roofs.
What could have been a parking area for boats in erstwhile Travancore is now rusting.
Earlier, the boat jetty building had been renovated by the Department of Tourism, with a plan to convert it into a restaurant overlooking the Parvathy Puthanar.However, the plan did not materialise and the boat jetty has been lying idle for years. Before it became a dumping yard, Parvathy Puthanar was part of the National Waterway.