Daily Times

The refurbishment work of Karachi Zoological Gardens, formerly known as Gandhi Garden, marked under mega development projects of Sindh government was halted nine months ago, according to officials.

The zoo which was established back in 1870 is managed by Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC). The zoo spans over 40 acres of land out of which 7 acres have been devoted to residential facilities for employees. The current revenue of the zoo is Rs 60 million (m) a year and a total of 224 employees are employed by the recreation site.

According to zoo officials, the refurbishment of zoo was put on development project list in 2016 and the zoo was expected to receive more than 750,000 visitors each year after renovation. Officials informed that some work was carried out since then but then it was halted. According to officials, Sindh government claimed that the zoo would be modelled after the Singapore Zoo. Animals were to be displayed in naturalistic, ‘open’ exhibits with hidden barriers, moats and glass between animals and visitors, according to officials.

Officials shared that the refurbishment work was divided into four development phases and scheduled to be completed by October 30, 2017. As per details, in the first phase of the project, overhead and underground water tanks and supply lines were to be built. The sewerage system of the zoo was also to be improved in the first phase and the outer boundary wall of the premise was to be heightened to 6 feet (ft). The estimated cost for the first phase was Rs 184 million (m).

In the second phase of the project, eleven enclosures were to be constructed and new animals were to be purchased. In addition, the food court and parking area was also to be improved. Face lifting of interior sites of the zoo including the erection of five main gates had also been planned. According to officials, only 10-15 percent of the work in this phase had been finished. The estimated cost for the second phase was Rs300 m.

Officials revealed that birds and various species of animals were also to be imported and Rs 1 billion (bn) had been allocated especially for this purpose. It is worth mentioning that presently there are more than 300 species of animal and birds in the zoo, of which eight percent are considered to be threatened species. These animals and birds are kept under certain controlled temperature in summer and winter seasons.

According to officials, personnel responsible for the said tasks included project director Niaz Soomro, local government special secretary Samar Ali Khan, project manager Shahid Ali and zoo architect Yousuf Sheikh.

Meanwhile, project director Niaz Soomro said that refurbishment work would restart after the zoo received funds. Samar Ali Khan said that the project would be completed soon since it had already faced such a long delay.

Rehana, a social worker, opined that corporate sector could be engaged in the fundraising in order to prevent further delays. “Corporations should be requested to donate funds to zoo as part of their corporate social responsibility commitments,” she proposed.

Published in Daily Times, October 27^th 2018.