Sunday, May 29 2005 12:21 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Nearly two decades after it was conceptualised, first phase of Indian Navy's ambitious, futuristic and integrated strategic base 'Project Seabird' at Karwar in Karnataka is all set to be commissioned on Tuesday (May 31, 2005).

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to inaugurate the first phase in the presence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash at Karwar on the west coast.

The dedicated naval base eventually set to become the major hub of all Indian Navy activities and biggest in Asia, would be named 'INS-Kadamba', Defence officials said.

The long-awaited mega project, for which the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation stone in 1986, has suffered cost and time overruns, cost of the total project is now pegged at Rs 35,000 crore, officials said.

Strategic, geographic and logistic factors decided setting up of the base at Karwar, they said.