Elephant love nest
set to break groundThe Honolulu Zoo's first phase
of building will cost $6.1 million
Construction on a long-delayed breeding facility for two Asian elephants at the Honolulu Zoo is expected to start within the next two months, according to a city official.
City Managing Director Ben Lee said work on a new home for female elephants Mari and Vaigai is to start in the next 30 to 60 days.
Construction will take place in two phases. The first phase, at $6.1 million, is work on the elephants' home and shelter. The second phase will complete the exhibit.
Lee said he did not have the cost available for the second phase but is working with engineers to reduce the overall cost.
The city estimated last year that the total project could cost $13 million.
Lee said the Teamsters strike of the state's largest cement providers, Ameron Hawaii and Hawaiian Cement, will not have an impact on the exhibit.
"There's still quite a bit of site work to do," said Lee.
Construction of the first phase is to take eight to 10 months, and the second phase might take an additional six months.
In 2000 the U.S. Department of Interior raised concerns that improvements had not been made by the city to allow bull elephants to visit for breeding. A 1991 agreement between the city and the department allowed Vaigai to be imported from India to breed Asian elephants at the zoo, but a breeding facility had to be built before a male elephant could be sent.
"I think it's long overdue," said City Council Budget Committee Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi. "We certainly don't want to lose the elephants."
Kobayashi, Councilman Charles Djou and six other Council members introduced a resolution last week urging the administration to proceed with privatization of the Honolulu Zoo.
"We need to look into changing its structure. It's something that we need to be more aggressively pursuing," said Djou.
Work on the elephant exhibit was last expected to start three years ago, but the city waited to finish work on a gharial exhibit, said Lee.
Gharials, a type of crocodile, have an elongated snout and needlelike teeth. The endangered reptiles are found in India and are mainly fish eaters.
The gharial exhibit is the first part of a plan for the Asian Tropical Forest that will also include the elephant exhibit.
Construction for the $2.8 million gharial exhibit started in April 2001 and was completed in October. Lee said relocation of underground utility lines led to the long construction period.
Four gharials -- one male that curators call Louie and three unnamed females -- live in a half-acre habitat. The exhibit includes two freshwater pools and small generated waterfalls that are surrounded by a rock wall.
