CHANDIGARH: The construction work for the much-awaited 13.79-km-long ropeway in Shimla will begin in September 2024 and is expected to be completed by 2029, an official said. The ropeway, the country’s first urban ropeway project and the world’s second longest, after La Paz in Bolivia, aimed to decongest the state capital cum-tourist hotspot, will have 13 boarding and one turning station (where cabins are transferred from one cable loop to another).
The boarding stations will be Taradevi, Judicial Complex Chakkar, Tuti Kandi Parking, New ISBT Railway Station, Old ISBT, Lift, Secretariat, Navbahar, Sanjauli, IGMC, Ice Skating Ring, Hotel Cecil and turning station at Victory Tunnel. This project will have three lines namely Monal, Deodar Cedar and Apple.
According to the director of Ropeway and Rapid Transport System Development Corporation, Ajay Sharma, the project, with an estimated cost of Rs 1,550 crores, once completed will provide an eco-friendly, affordable, green, safe mode of transportation and enhance the ease of living and tourism to Shimla, also known as ‘Queen of Hills’.
The ropeway, to be developed by the RTDC received the in-principle approval last August by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and was proposed to the New Development Bank for multilateral funding. A survey of the project’s feasibility, topographical, traffic, ridership, design, environment and social impact assessment was conducted this year.
The process of diversion of land under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) is in progress. The total land requirement for the project is 9.82 hectare, of which 7.26 hectare is forest land while the remaining 2.56 hectare belongs to the Central Public Works Department and Railways. According to initial estimates, the ropeway will have a capacity of airlifting 3,000 persons per hour per direction (PPHD) with 10-person sitting capacity in each cabin.
The project will cover 76 km of the road network. It has been found that the roads that the ropeway will bypass are heavily loaded with both public and personal vehicles, often leading to traffic jams, especially in tourist season.
Over the project, Himachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri had said that the state government has taken the lead as the ropeway will be the first of its kind in the country. Agnihotri said he is committed to constructing more ropeways in the state for connecting the left-out habitations, developing unexplored tourist destinations and enhancing urban transportation.