The state government of Karnataka, India, is set to float a global tender to develop a site at Brindavan Gardens near Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) into a theme park.

Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar announced the plans along with Cabinet colleagues and senior officials following a project site inspection.

Financing will be under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, meaning the state government will not invest "even a single rupee", said Shivakumar, for the project, which is estimated to cost close to £200m (US$251.4m, €221.8m).

The project will take around two-and-a-half years to build and will cover 336 acres of government-owned land near the KRS dam, which will remain state-owned post-construction.

Other features set out in the masterplan include plans for botanical gardens, a penguin zoo, a wax museum, an aroma garden and a glass castle, which will showcase laser fireworks.

Plans for the site originally were based around a statue and museum with a man-made lake inserted on their approach, but these appear to have been shelved.

On this Shivakumar said: "Unlike the statue project, the state government will not spend any money. The contractor will bear the entire project cost."