Govt proposes ropeways for Shimla, Manali, Dharamsala

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 27

With traffic congestion coming in the way of tourism promotion, the state government has proposed to set up ropeways in three main tourist towns — Shimla, Manali and Dharamsala — as part of its Urban Mobility Plan. The cost of the projects has been pegged at Rs 2,800 crore.

The ball has been set rolling for the setting up of the ropeway in the state capital as experts from Czechoslovakia are engaged in the preparation of a technical report.

Shortly, a drone survey of the entire track will be undertaken in Shimal and its suburbs. The ropeway will connect all major junctions, including the Core Area, Waknaghat, Jathia Devi, Fagu and later it could be extended up to Theog and Chail.

“We have engaged WAPCOS to prepare DPRs for all three towns and the project has been sent for approval to the Finance Department so that it can be posed for bilateral funding,” said Jagdish Sharma, Principal Secretary, Transport. He added that the project could have been undertaken under the PPP mode, but then the tariff for commuters would work out to be high.

WASCOM had examined the feasibility of various modes of transport, including sky buses, elevated pods and monorails, but ropeways were found to be the most suited, besides factors like low cost, less land acquisition and better linkages.

The ropeway project will have 31 junctions and have a span of 30 kilometres, while crisscrossing across the town, which has all-the-year-round tourist arrival. Besides, the peak tourist season in summer and around Christmas and New Year, there is a major surge in tourist influx every weekend, leading to parking woes.

Similarly, the ropeway in Manali will have a total of 23 stations, right from Aloo Ground, Prini, Mall Road and up to the Solang Nullah with a total length of 26 kilometres. The ropeway will prove to be a boon for tourists wanting to visit Rohtang as there are NGT restrictions on the movement of vehicles and permits are mandatory. “We plan to connect several new destinations like the Hamta Pass to decongest Manali and Rohtang,” said Sharma.

In case of Dharamsala, the ropeway will be 30-km long. Twenty-five stations will link all major stations right from Sidhbari, Tapovan, Dari, Chamunda, McLeodganj, Naddi and Dharamkot.

Even though this is an ambitious project that the Transport Department has embarked upon, the ropeway projects envisaged by the department in the past have failed to take off despite inviting bids from investors several times. Despite giving concessions and making amendments to the rules, not much interest has been shown by investors in aerial projects like Toba-Naina Devi besides others.