Ropeway projects in Uttarakhand to be cleared by high-level committee

The Uttarakhand government on Friday said that all ropeway projects will have to undergo approval from the high-level ropeway development committee of the state which will have its first board meeting before December end.

State Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan informed the National Highway Logistic Management Limited (NHLML) to appoint a Special Project Vehicle (SPV) CEO soon.

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The chief secretary said, “It will now be mandatory for all proposals for ropeway projects in the state to be approved by umbrella body Uttarakhand Ropeway Development Committee (URDC) to prevent duplication as the project proposals are prepared by different agencies.”

Bardhan directed the officials of tourism and other stake holding departments to “prepare a roadmap for the development of new tourist destinations and widening of roads that will be necessary in the next 5-10 years in view of completion of all major ropeway projects.”

Further, he asked NHLML, an SPV of the National Highway Authority of India(NHAI), to expedite appointment of its CEO to accelerate the works for proposed ropeway projects in the state. He also ordered the committee to have its first meeting before year end.

Responding to Bardhan’s directions, officials informed that 50 ropeway projects were in the pipeline for the entire state but only six have been selected on priority. According to the chief secretary, the officials claimed that works for Sonprayag-Kedarnath and Govindghat-Hemkund Sahib projects in the Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts, respectively, were awarded to construction companies.

On the other hand, work award task for Kathgodam-Hanumangarhi Temple ropeway project work is Nainital and Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Kanchauri to Kartik Swami ropeway are in progress. Besides, DPR preparation work award for Raithal Barsu to Barnala in Uttarkashi and the Joshimath-Auli-Gorson ropeway project in Chamoli are underway.

The chief secretary asked the officials to prepare a timeline and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) for every stage of the Sonprayag to Kedarnath and Govindghat to Hemkund Sahib ropeway projects. He stressed that forest officials and district administrations must accelerate forest and wildlife clearance processes for the ropeway project proposals in order to ground them early.

He added that the renowned tourist place Kainchidham in Nainital should also be included in the Kathgodam-Hanumangarhi Temple ropeway project.