NEW DELHI: The cabinet on Wednesday approved two ropeway projects – Sonprayag to Kedarnath and Govindghat to Hemkund Sahib – in Uttarakhand, which will reduce travel time to less than an hour from close to 10 hours now. Govt has also lined up over half a dozen ropeway projects for Maa Kamakhya temple in Assam, across Sangam in Prayagraj, for Bijli Mahadev in Kullu, and another from Kathgodam to Hanumangarhi in Uttarakhand.
The estimated cost of the two projects that the cabinet approved is around Rs 6,811 crore and will be completed in six years. Officials in National Highway Logistics Management Ltd, central govt agency for ropeway projects, said bids for both will be opened late this month.
These will be implemented on a public private partnership (PPP) mode. Considering the high demand of pilgrims and tourists, govt expects it won’t need to provide any financial support.
Providing details of the projects approved a day before PM Modi visits Uttarakhand, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said these will be big boon for pilgrims visiting the shrines of Lord Shiva and Guru Gobind Singh, as these would provide environment-friendly, comfortable and fast connectivity. Modi had laid the foundation stones for the projects in Oct 2022.
The Sonprayag-Kedarnath ropeway will be based on the latest ‘gondola technology‘; each gondola will be able to accommodate 36 passengers. The travel time in one direction will come down from about 8-9 hours to 36 minutes.
The other ropeway project will provide convenience to pilgrims and tourists visiting the Valley of Flowers and will ensure all-weather last mile connectivity between Govindghat and Hemkund Sahib. Sahib last year and the project is expected to increase the number of people visiting the shrine by 10 times.
Thanking the PM for the decisions for fulfilling the long-standing demand, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami said, “These projects will reduce the long hours of travel to a few minutes for those visiting Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib. This will also boost the economy.”