OSLO, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- A Norwegian housing development company has a plan to build the biggest aquarium in Northern Europe in the Fornebu area, west of Oslo, public broadcaster NRK reported on Tuesday.
The aquarium, which is being planned by development company Selvaag, should be finished in 2022-2023 and shall contain more than 7 million liters of water in the area of more than 10,000 square meters, according to the report.
"For many years, we have had ambitions to build an aquarium in the Oslo area," said Olav H. Selvaag, an owner of the company.
The aquarium is to be located in the area close to the sea, which was purchased by the company last year, NRK reported.
It is expected to become a tourist attraction that can host hundreds of thousands of visitors per year.
"We think there will be some attractions you can experience when visiting Oslo: Holmenkollen, the museums at Bygdoy and a trip to the aquarium," said Baard Schumann, CEO of the company.
It is too early to estimate what it will cost, but Schumann referred to the aquarium The Blue Planet in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the time cost 700 million Danish kroner, which then amounted to about 800 million Norwegian kroner (101.5 million U.S. dollars).
Lisbeth Hammer Krog, mayor of Baerum municipality, which Fornebu belongs to, said that the aquarium will fit well into the municipality's plans.
"I am proud and happy on behalf of Fornebu and the whole of Baerum, because we can get such a national attraction as Northern Europe's largest aquarium," she said.
Baerum's director of planning Arthur Wohni said that the idea was "very exciting" and the location had opportunities and potential.
Selvaag said that the building itself will be "an architectural piece of jewelry" adapted to the Norwegian archipelago.
