Centre to provide 20% funds for urban ropeway project in Ghaziabad

The cost of the project, which was originally pegged at ₹487 crore, was further reduced to ₹450 crore

Officials of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) said on Thursday that the Centre will provide 20% of the ₹450 crore required for constructing the 5.1km-long urban ropeway project that will connect the two Metro stations of Mohan Nagar and Vaishali in Ghaziabad.

The ropeway project is being planned as an alternative to a Metro extension to connect Mohan Nagar on the Red line and Vaishali on the Blue line of the Delhi Metro Rail Network. (Representative photo)

The ropeway project is being planned as an alternative to a Metro extension to connect Mohan Nagar on the Red line and Vaishali on the Blue line of the Delhi Metro Rail Network (DMRC). The proposal was suggested by General (retd) V K Singh, who is also the minister of state for road transport and highways and civil aviation, besides being an MP from Ghaziabad, earlier this year.

“Two days ago (Tuesday), we held meetings with General V K Singh and other officials in Delhi and an in-principle approval was given for the Centre’s share of 20% towards the project. Since the project will be taken up on public private partnership mode, the company developing the project will fund 60% of the project. The remaining share will be borne by the GDA,” said Krishna Karunesh, vice chairperson of GDA.

The ropeway is a transport system for ferrying goods or people especially used in mountainous areas or mines, wherein the carrier cars are suspended with the help of moving cables, powered by a motor system.

Earlier in October, the cost of the project, which was originally pegged at ₹487 crore, was further reduced to ₹450 crore.

Officials said the entire ropeway project will be elevated and based on 27 pillars and will move over the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) alignment near Sahibabad.

The detailed project report (DPR) has proposed four stations for the ropeway at Mohan Nagar, Sahibabad, Vasundhara and Vaishali. The starting and ending stations will be connected to the respective Metro stations with the help of skywalks of 150 metres, which will be constructed by the authority.

As per the DPR estimates, a passenger will have to shelve out a minimum of ₹20 and a maximum of ₹30 for covering the entire distance in the ropeway. It is also estimated that the ropeway system will cater to 80,000 passengers in a week.