A £90 million project which will include a 10,000 seat indoor arena, a multiplex cinema, an IMAX centre, a science museum, restaurants and bars has received the go-ahead after it was announced that it would receive funding from the government and the Millennium Commission.

The Odyssey project is to be located on a 23-acre site at the Abercorn Basin in Belfast Harbour Estate, and is due to open during the year 2000. Tenders have been invited for the main construction contract and work was scheduled to begin during the summer.