Ghaziabad: GDA selects agency to prepare project report for ropeway link

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has selected an agency to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed ‘urban passenger ropeway’ link between Vaishali and Mohan Nagar metro stations

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has selected an agency to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed ‘urban passenger ropeway’ link between Vaishali and Mohan Nagar metro stations. Officials said that the authority decided to develop a ropeway system, instead of a metro link to connect Vaishali with Mohan Nagar, as it will cost about ₹450 crore as against an estimated ₹1,808 crore for the 5.04km metro link.

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The officials also said that they have plans to extend the metro service up to the Ghaziabad railway station, which is proposed to be developed as a major city centre.

“The agency has started work for preparation of a DPR. It is expected to be complete in 15 days. The project cost of the ropeway system is much less than that of a metro extension. Initially, the ropeway was also planned between New Bus Adda metro station and Ghaziabad railway station, but now we plan to bring in metro services instead,” said Krishna Karunesh, vice-chairperson, GDA.

In December last year, the authority had started with the consideration of a ropeway system instead of bringing in metro services between Vaishali and Mohan Nagar.

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

At present, Ghaziabad has two metro links -- from Vaishali to Delhi’s Anand Vihar (Blue Line) and from New Bus Adda to Delhi’s Dilshad Garden (Red Line), which includes Mohan Nagar station.

The GDA officials said that the Ghaziabad railway station is proposed to be developed into a model city centre station with an estimated project cost of about ₹1,000 crore and will have all modern amenities for passengers, besides commercial facilities.

“In such a scenario, we plan to extend Dilshad Garden-New Bus Adda metro route to Ghaziabad railway station (Bajaria side). For the other side (Vijay Nagar side) of the railway station, we have planned to link it via metro to Noida Sector 62 metro station. This will help commuters of Noida as well as Ghaziabad,” the GDA vice-chairperson said.

The authority last year proposed and got prepared DPRs of two metro extensions – 5.05km route from Vaishali to Mohan Nagar and 5.017km Electronic City (Noida Sector 62) to Sahibabad. Together the two projects were pegged at a completion cost of ₹3,325.22 crore, and the GDA denied to share the cost burden alone.