ISBT ropeway to be reality soon

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 19

The Tourism Department on Tuesday decided to clear all hurdles coming up in the ISBT-Jodha Niwas ropeway project by holding a single public hearing and expediting the forest clearances required for the long-pending project to take off. It will be aimed at reducing the traffic congestion in the capital.

Additional Chief Secretary (Tourism) Ram Subhag Singh chaired a meeting with all stakeholders to expedite the project. The meeting was attended by Usha Breko representatives, who are executing the project, and officials from the Forest, Revenue, Tourism, Town and Country Planning and Public Works Departments.

The MoU for the ropeway was signed on June 17, 2015, between Usha Breko and the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC). The length of the project is 3.5 km with a total of four stations. The stations will be Tourist Information Centre near the bypass, Firhill, Lift and Jodha Niwas.

“With the company having been asked to reduce the number of trees that were to be axed from 1,200 to 600, the height of towers and land requirement of the company has gone up,” said Singh. A deadline of one week has been fixed for the submission of the revised forest clearance, which will be done online. A small working group comprising the DFO, SDM and company representatives has been formed to ensure the approvals.

The completion period of the project was three years while the concession period was fixed at 40 years. The ropeway will link Firhill from the outskirts of the town to the ISBT and later to Rani Jhansi Park on The Mall and finally at Jodha Niwas. The annual income of Rs 10.62 crore that the MC will get from the project will help the cash-strapped SMC to improve its financial health.

The ropeway will help reduce traffic congestion as most of the small vehicles entering the town will be parked on bypass near the ISBT and people will travel by the ropeway. However, following several glitches, work has been delayed on the project. The High Court too has directed the government to grant all sanctions and expedite it as it will greatly help reduce traffic congestion in the town.

About the project

• The then Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, had laid the foundation stone of a ropeway connecting the Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) to The Mall in 2015.
• The passenger ropeway will have four stations along its total length of 3,600 metre. The project was expected to be completed within three years of the stone-laying ceremony.
• The project is being undertaken by Usha Breko,  and will cater to 1,000 passengers per hour per direction.

Rs 150-200 cr is the project cost 
3.5 km is length of the project 
Rs 10.62 cr  annual income for MC
3 years  is completion period