Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda on Friday said the establishment work for the proposed aquarium at Puri would be expedited soon. Minister Panda said this while chairing a meeting on the proposed aquarium here. He directed that a joint committee be sent soon to Puri to conduct a field inquiry. It was revealed that a total of 2.96 acres of land has been identified and workorder for construction of the aquarium, to be set up at an estimated cost of Rs5 crore, has already been awarded to Ahmadabad-based CEE company. The Puri-Konark Development Authority (PKDA) has been asked to sort out land acquisition problems relating to the proposed aquarium. It was decided that an MoU would be signed with the Idco for construction of infrastructure by effecting positive changes to the earlier plan, if required. Among others, Nabakalebar Coordination Committee Chairman Maheshwar Mohanty, Tourism Director Anil Samal, Idco CGM Golak Bihari Kar, PKDA Secretary B Barik and CEE company officer Kiran Desai were present.