Namchi : Tourism Minister Mr Bhim Dhungel today attended the trial and
inspection of the ropeway at Samdrupste which is a much awaited
ambitious project of the State Government. To carry out the inspection,
Tourism Minister along with the inspecting committee including the line
department officials and technical representatives of Damodar Ropeway
took a cable ride from Samdruptse point to Rock Garden. He also
inspected the premises of Rock Garden and returned to Samdruptse to
address the media.
Referring to this project as a huge
achievement of the state government as well as the people of Namchi,
Minister informed the media that this type of ropeway is the first of
its kind in the state due to its nature of construction owing to the
hilly terrain for which the main items like the cable wire and cabin
used in the project are imported. This is just a trial and inspection of
the ropeway today, the formal inauguration will be held at the end of
this year after its completion from the hands of the State’s Chief
Minister he added. He was quoted saying that this venture will boost the
tourism industry in Namchi and create more opportunities for the local
here. Sharing his cable ride experience today Mr Dhungel said that the
ride turned out to be satisfying except for few minor flaws which he
informed will be cleared by the construction company within few weeks
starting from today. Stating that this being an election year, the state
government is making every effort to complete and inaugurate the
existing projects, and this will be an added achievement for the
government he said.
Mr C Zangpo Secretary Tourism Department
providing his statement on today’s program said that after the
functioning of this ropeway, the vanishing fame of Rock Garden Tourist
spot in Namchi will regain its charm and the existing tourist cafeteria
with other amenities will also start operating once more retaining the
tourists flow. Secretary stated that the inspection committee after the
cable ride today will direct the construction company to focus on
rectifying the flaws immediately which they experienced in person during
the cable ride.
SE South/West Tourism Department Mr Lakpa Sherpa speaking to the media
provided technical aspects of the ropeway wherein he informed that this
ropeway point from Samdrupste to Rock Garden comes under Section II for
which Monocable fixed grip (pulsated) has been installed which operates
in clockwise direction with 660 mtrs return shieve and the vertical rise
between two stations is of 369 mtrs with straight alignment. The line
gauge is 4036.00 mm with the capacity (design) speed of 250 pph maximum
and the line speed (variable) is of 0-3.82 m/sec. The Section II has 12
cabins with capacity of four persons in each cabin and number of cabin
in each pulse is 3 numbers with number of pulses 4 in numbers. There are
total 7 towers in this section he reported. Mr Sherpa shared that after
the amendment of the flaws in Section II area and after the final
approval from the state government the ropeway will start operating on
commercial basis for the visitors and tourists.
The construction of the ropeway project
in Namchi is undertaken by Damodar Ropeway Infra Ltd Kolkata and the
State Nodal Agency is Tourism Department. This project commenced in the
year 2007 and the tentative completion date given by the department is
December 2014. The initial cost of the overall project at the
commencement was 27.27 crores which later revised to 42 crores
approximately. The Section I of the ropeway has its point at PWD
bungalow Namchi towards Rock Garden.
The trial ride was joined by the guests,
officials and media personnel as well. The inspection and trail of the
ropeway was attended by Area MLA Mr Binod Rai, DC South Mr Prabhaker
Verma, SE R&B Department Mr Mohan Gurung, Officials of Forest
Department, Tourism Department and Damodar Ropeway and representatives
of consulting agency. IPR
Source: VoS