The Himachal Government will soon invite tenders for the country’s longest Rs 5,602 crore ropeway between Parwanoo and Shimla aimed at reducing travel time and traffic congestion on this stretch which witnesses heavy vehicular movement.
With the detailed project report (DPR) of the project being submitted by the Tata Consultancy, it is by the end of this month that global bids will be invited for the ambitious project.
The 40-km ropeway, which will have 11 stations with a two hour travel time will emerge as a major tourist attraction.
“The ropeway will be set up under public-private partnership (PPP) mode and the target for completion is 2030,” said Ajay Sharma, Director, Ropeways Transport Development Corporation (RTDC). He said once commissioned the ropeway will ferry 25 lakh passengers to and fro annually.
The ropeway will have 11 stations at Tara Devi (Goyal Motors), Tara Devi temple, Shighi, Waknaghat, Waknaghat IT City, Karol Ka Tibba, Solan, Barog, Dagghai Cantonment, Jabali and Parwanoo.
During peak tourist season and movement of apple laden trucks, the travel time on this 90 km stretch reaches up to five hours even though the construction of the fourlane highway will reduce travel time.
“We are expecting that the ropeway will ferry about 25 lakh persons in a year and the peak capacity of about one crore will be achieved by the year 2063,” said Sharma. As per the feasibility studies, the ropeway will ferry about 904 persons per hour per direction on its launch in 2030.
Aimed at decongesting the road, the ropeway, the longest in Himachal will attract even more tourists to Himachal, many of whom are not very keen to take the long road journey. On an average, about 22,000 vehicles ply to and from on this road stretch which even touched 40,000 on special occasions like Christmas, New Year and peak tourist season in the summers.
The ropeway will have a span of 40.73 kms and travel time of 120 minutes. The technology that will be used for the ropeway will be tri-cable and mono-cable detachable Gondola system. With land being identified for the setting up of the project, work is likely to begin the moment all the bid and allotment formalities are complete.
The state government is keen to promote setting up of ropeways and tunnels to facilitate travel in the hill state. With Himachal having very limited air and rail connectivity, aerial ropeways are being looked as an alternative travel mode which requires much less land acquisition and reduces the travel time considerably.
