Replicas of the Seven Wonders of the World will be created in a civic garden to educate people and boost tourism in the city, officials said here on Friday.
The project, initiated by former corporator Yamini Y. Jadhav, is now being implemented under the aegis of her husband and Shiv Sena leader in BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation Yashwant Jadhav.
Slated to cost Rs 2.60 crore, it will come up in the popular 133-year-old Joseph Baptista Garden, named after an Indian freedom fighter, at Bhandrawada Hill in south Mumbai's Mazagaon area.
Owned by the BMC, the garden is an oasis of greenery and a popular spot for tourists who get an uninterrupted bird's eye view of Mumbai, besides students of nearby schools who come there to study in its peaceful environs, on a hillock more than 100 feet high and spread across nearly 550,000 square feet.
"Replicas of the new Seven Wonders of the World will come up in this garden, which would change the landscape of south Mumbai," said Jadhav.
The replicas include The Statue of Christ The Redeemer (Brazil), Statue of Liberty (USA), Leaning Tower of Pisa and The Colosseum (both Italy), Eiffel Tower (France), Chichen Itza Pyramid (Mexico) and the Taj Mahal (India).
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Each replica will come up on specially designed plots and include a brief history and description of the particular monument, to be decorated by special colour-changing LED lights and special lamps.
All replicas will be supplemented by local horticulture unique to each site, for instance, flowers and trees of Agra for the Taj Mahal replica, said an official.
The renovated Joseph Baptista Garden, with new creations, is likely to be ready around mid-2018 and prove to be major attraction both for Mumbaikars and tourists.
Last year, the BMC introduced a colony of seven Humboldt Penguins (one died in November 2016) at nearby Veermata Jijabai Udyan Mumbai Zoo, which remain a star attraction since their public exhibition in March.
--IANS
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