SHIMLA: Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur thanked the Central government for sanctioning an innovative Urban Transport Ropeway project worth Rs. 1546.4 crore for Shimla city.
The department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India (GoI) has given In-Principal approval for the project.
Chief Minister said that the State Government envisaged Ropeway as an Eco-Friendly Mode of Transportation and Himachal was moving forward in this direction.
He said that the State Government has taken up this innovative urban transport ropeway project for decongestion of Shimla city with a network length of 14.69 Km having 15 boarding & de-boarding stations.
Jai Ram Thakur said that at present Shimla has a population of about 3.08 Lac with annual tourist influx of around 40 Lac.
The city has narrow roads with heavy settlement, which further compounds during the tourist season when thousands of tourist vehicles reach Shimla daily causing huge traffic jams, added the Chief Minister.
He said that this ropeway project would start off from Taradevi and would have a combination of smart parking, lifts and escalators would be integrated with existing transport networks.
He said that the fare charged on this mode of transportation would be more or less at par with conventional transportation so that even local people were motivated to travel on this network instead of using their own vehicles.
Chief Minister said that this project would be a game changer with tourists parking their vehicles at the entry point of Shimla and boarding the ropeway network. This eco-friendly mode of transportation will be a carbon neutral project, he added.
Jai Ram Thakur said that it was the only viable solution to provide urban transport in Shimla as BRTS, Monorail, Metro cannot be constructed due to geographical and geotechnical limitations.
It has been posed to the New Development Bank (NDB) for bilateral funding and the State Government was moving forward in this direction, added the Chief Minister.
He said that this project would be completed by RTDC in 5 years and the project would be the first of its kind in the country.
Chief Minister said that after implementing the project, this alternative ropeway transport system would also be developed in Dharamsala and Manali.
Jai Ram Thakur said that the State Government has taken various major initiatives to boost the ropeway sector in the state. Ropeway project got included in the list of linear Projects and Right of Way for Ropeway projects got exempted from the ambit of FCA, he added.
He said that Ropeways were included in the eligible category for projects under RIDF (NABARD).
The State Government was providing rural connectivity through ropeways with funding under RIDF (NABARD). He said that the ropeway to Mata Baglamukhi temple near Pandoh in District Mandi was the first NABARD (RIDF) funded ropeway project in the country and was expected to be commissioned by 31st March 2023, added the Chief Minister.
He said that the Ropeways exempted from the list of projects requiring prior Environment Clearance (EC) and GST in Ropeway usage fare reduced from 18 to 5 percent and matter was taken up with MoTA GoI for inclusion of ropeways in the list of eligible activity under FRA.
Jai Ram Thakur said that the State Government has also signed MoU with the Government of India on 26th April 2022 for the development of Ropeway and projected seven ropeway projects in District Kangra, Kullu, Chamba, Sirmour, Shimla and Bilaspur costing Rs. 2964 crores for 60.6 kms under Parvatmala scheme and the groundwork for implementation these projects was also in progress.
