The construction will require an estimated investment of 110 million Brazilian reais (some 60 million US dollars) which city officials anticipate will come mostly from private sector donors.
The aquarium, to be located in the port area of the city, near the Guanabara Bay, will have a total floor area of 27,000 square meters (290,000 square feet) and will house 12,000 animals from 400 different freshwater and saltwater species, including sharks and rays.
It will also have 42 tanks containing a total of five million liters (1.3 million gallons) of water. Specialized tanks for animals such as penguins and sea lions are also included in the project.
AquaRio will have special areas for polar bears as well as penguins and visitors will be able to swim with the fish. The Coca-Cola company should be a big investor in the project.
According to biologist Marcelo Szpilman, who initiated the project, the aquarium was conceived not only to be a tourist attraction, but also to promote conservation of biodiversity, environmental education, research and recovery for injured sea animals.
The project includes a marine museum, a convention center, shops and a restaurant on the top floor. The project is expected to be finished by 2012 and is estimated to be able to attract 1.5 million visitors per year.
Rio do Janeiro is home to the most conservation conscious activist groups in Brazil and a stronghold of the Green party, which almost won the city's government.
City officials don't discard support from the federal government, since Brazil in 2014 will he hosting the football World Cup and Rio is bidding for the Olympic Games of 2016.
Mercopress