Chandaragiri Cable car service
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Since the construction of the project commenced 15 months ago, the developer has completed building the top station, bottom station and foundations of the towers so far. The site development and tower and cable erection are projected to take another three months, as per Dilip Shrestha, project manager of CCCP.Bottom station of Chandragiri Cable Car Project that is under construction in Kathmandu Valley, on Saturday. Courtesy: Kathmandu Fun Park Ltd
Bottom station of Chandragiri Cable Car Project that is under construction in Kathmandu Valley, on Saturday. Courtesy: Kathmandu Fun Park Ltd
“Earlier, we had planned to commence operation by October this year, but the launch date had to be postponed due to the devastating earthquake in April and subsequent powerful aftershocks,” Shrestha explained, adding the company is planning to test the operation by October but the commercial operation will only begin by January 2016.CCCP was forced to halt construction work for a month after the devastating earthquake of April 25.Altogether 11 towers will be erected for the 2.5 kilometre-long cable car from Godam (Thankot) to Chandragiri hill. The cable car has a capacity to serve 1,000 people in one hour and will be operated for at least 12 hours a day.
More interestingly, the distance between tower seven to eight is about 900 metres, which is one of the longest distances between towers and will be a thrilling experience for cable car riders.
“The foundations of all 11 towers have been laid and construction materials for the towers have also been delivered by helicopters in different tower stations, where the track has not been developed,” said Shrestha.
As per him, the project has also taken bio-engineering techniques into consideration for eco-friendly development. Altogether 300 labourers are involved in the project.
The total project cost of the CCCP is expected to hover around Rs 3.36 billion, which is financed by 50 per cent debt and 50 per cent equity investment. The project is financed by a consortium of seven commercial banks of the country.The bottom station is being developed on 120 ropanis of property owned by Kathmandu Fun Park Ltd at Godam of Thankot. The 700 ropanis of land for the top station that lies on top of the Chandragiri hill has been taken on a 40-year lease from the government. The developer also plans to construct a five-star hotel, view tower, 4D theatre, zip flyer and botanical garden, among others in the area to lure tourists.
The top and bottom stations of the cable car will provide full facilities, like food court, restaurant and bar, branded shops, banking services and parking. In addition, a fun park is also scheduled to be developed in the bottom station.The pre-feasibility study of the project was done six years back and the government had invited the private sector to develop the project. The developer had signed the agreement with the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation to lease the land at Chandragiri hill three years back. CCCP is the second cable car project in the country after Manakamana Darshan Ltd’s Manakamana Cable Car.
people in the capital need not have to spend hours to go to Kurintar of Chitwan to ride on a cable car, they could soon enjoy the service in the Kathmandu Valley itself.
They would enjoy the service in the Kathmandu Valley within two years of the start of construction of the project to connect Chandragiri Hill (Mahabharat Hill) with Thankot VDC near Godam as it has been already started.As per the project, Thankot VDC in the Kathmandu Valley would be connected with the historical hill, Chandragiri, above Kirtipur Municipality through a short trip of around 10 minutes.The little-known Chandragiri (2540 meters from sea level) lies on the south west of Kathmandu Valley though the area itself has abundant natural resources including flora and fauna for developing tourism activities, but has been left behind from being a popular tourist destination because of lack of promotion.
The single length of the cable car project would be of around two and half kilometers beginning from near Godam at Thankot. It is the fact that a visitor has to make the three hours trekking to reach to Chandragiri, from where the then king Prithvi Narayan Shah was said to have made a plan to attack Kathmandu during the unification campaign.It is said that Shah was attracted with the beautiful valley while he was walking through this hill on his way to maternal uncle´s home in Nuwakot from Makawanpur and developed the concept of unifying the three cities Kantipur (Kathmandu), Bhadgaon (Bhaktapur), and Patan (Lalitpur) with the then Gurkha state. He later entered with his Gorkha Army in Kirtipur via the same hill. The king then attacked and got victory over the Kathmandu Valley.A drive on a car or other vehicles has to pass the distance of around seven kilometers to reach the top of Chandragiri hill from Godam. The journey on such vehicles is not very comfortable due to rough road. There is another option to reach to the hill but the visitors need to have three-hour long tough trek, so, the potential of cable car project is justified.
It is the highest hill in Kathmandu Valley vicinity from the top of which, Mt. Everest, other snow clad mountains, beautiful cities in the Kathmandu Valley, and green highlands including Kulekhani of Makawanpur, Chitlang village and Simbhanjyang of Makwanpur could be seen.
The construction of cable car atop the Chandragiri Hill from Thankot, an outskirt of the Kathmandu Valley, would bring tremendous tourism potentials in Nepal.
The hill is very attractive from the tourism point view and is at the nearest highland to pass time, entertain, and view the mountains but the people in the Valley are to go to Nagarkot and other places just because the place does not have a good facility of road, that is why the concept of the cable car project was made, informed various groups that are ready for investment for the project.
The investors have a plan of constructing star hotels, resorts, fun parks, among others. For this, the groups have registered Kathmandu Fun Park Private Limited by acquiring 700 ropanis of land on lease for 80 years.The infrastructure construction for the fun park and the cable car will be concluded within the two years, by the time when cable car project would start construction works.
One of the main investor of the company and chief of the IME Group Chandraraj Dhakal said they would not only operate the cable car at the area, but various other businesses and Chandragiri hill would be developed as a major destination for internal and external tourists.
The fun park would be constructed near the cable car station at Thankot VDC where the visitors get hotels and restaurant services.
Another investor of the company, Ambika Prasad Paudel, said the preliminary cost of the project is Rs. two billion and Mahindra Consulting Group has been holding the preliminary talks. The company is holding talks with different Swiss and Australian companies to install cable car service, he added.
It is reported that the one-way trip in the cable car takes around 10 minutes but the investors have not fixed the fare rate right now.
Hemraj Dhakal of IME Group, Min Bahadur Gurung of Bhatbhateni Super Market, Paudel of Hathway Investment Company, Uttam Nepal of Uttam London Company, and Gyan Bahadur GC of Elite Capital are other members investing for the cable car and other projects.
Paudel said they have a plan of constructing a temple of Bhaleshower Mahadev, also known as Ichheshwor Mahadev, before the construction of the cable car. The then king Shah started attack in the Kathmandu valley by praying to be blessed from the god Bhaleshwor which is one of the avatars of Lord Shiva.
A large number of people from different parts of the country thronged here to worship the Trishul (trident) believed to be of Lord Shiva. A big fair is observed here on Baisakh Purnima night (a full moon night in May), every year. There is no temple so the Company has a plan to begin the project by constructing a temple here.
After the construction of the cable car and modern hotels, Chandragiri is believed to become an attractive tourism destination.
Fewer people reached at the top for lack of good road facility and hotel services till date though Chitlang, one of the nearest village of Chandragiri receives a large number of tourists as it has developed the concept of home stay of late.
Besides the cable car ride, all the proposed projects are expected to attract Kathmanduites and other internal and external tourists to spend their holidays and organize various entertaining programmes like picnic as an alternative to Nagarkot, one of the famous tourism destinations near the valley.
The country’s second cable car system, the Thankot-Chandragiri line, is almost ready to take off. “If everything goes according to the plan the Nepali New Year (Baisakh 1) is going to be remarkable,” says Kathmandu Fun Park Director Ambika Prasad Paudel.
Owned and developed by Kathmandu Fun Park, the base of this new recreational transportation system is located at Thankot, 16 kms from Kathmandu, about 31 minutes away by car, making it an ideal one-day getaway. A seven kilometre drivable rough road takes one to the hill-top, while for trekkers it takes up to three hours to get there.
“The cable-car will immensely help to shorten that trip and allow visitors a quick ticket to some of the best jaw-dropping views available so near the valley,” proclaims Paudel.
Situated at 2540 metres above sea level, the top of the hill provides unobstructed view of the high Himalayas, Terai plains as well as the entire Kathmandu valley. The cable-car was due to launch in Dashain last year but the April 25 earthquake and India blockade delayed its opening. Built using technology and expertise from one of the world’s top cable car building companies, Doppelmayr of Austria, the project was registered six years ago with an estimated cost of Rs 3.25 billion. Paudel says the costs could go up by 10 percent due to the delays. Rs 90 million has been invested to reconstruct Bhaleshwor temple nearby.The cable car’s starting station is spread over six hectares of land and the top base station, which the company has leased from the government, totals 36 hectares. Paudel hopes for payback of the investment in seven or nine years.
With an estimated one million tourists, both domestic and international, arriving in Kathmandu annually, there should be rich pickings for the Fun Park. “We hope to extend the stay of at least 30 to 40 percent of these visitors to the valley by bringing them here. This will help our tourism sector too,” says Paudel.The cable car will employ more than 300 and the construction of a planned hotel will take employment levels to 500 with locals also benefitting from the development.
And further plans are afoot to make the area into an all round tourist and shopping destination. Kathmandu Fun Park plans to develop the site into an integrated entertainment place by adding attractions like a boutique hotel, a mini-amusement park, rock-climbing, zip flying, paragliding, a 6D theatre and a botanical garden, as well as branded shops.
The residents of Kathmandu, and its surrounding areas, will soon have a new destination to go on a quick getaway. Once only accessible by foot, the hilltop of Chandragiri, southwest of the Valley, will soon welcome visitors with a newly installed cable car system. Currently on trail, the cable cars at Chandragiri will come into operation sometime next month. From the base station at Godam, near Thankot, the 2.5 km ropeway will take you to the top of Chandragiri, where several tourist attractions are under construction. Once completed, the hilltop will not only serve as a vantage point to observe the ever-expanding Kathmandu, but will also become the go-to place for those seeking an escape from the hullabaloo of the capital. According to Kathmandu Fun Park Pvt Ltd, the company behind the project, a 6D theatre, shopping area, restaurants and a view tower are also being built on the hill top. Chandragiri is also home the temple of Ichchapureshwor, the god believed to have powers to grant wishes. “The construction work is nearing completion,” says Chandra Dhakal of Kathmandu Fun Pa
rk. “We are expecting up to 10,000 visitors during holidays.” Standing tall at an altitude of 2600 m above sea level, Chandragiri has always been a popular choice among hikers. With the newly installed cable car system, the site will become accessible to even those who do not like hiking. The hill is famous for its ever-changing weather. It is here that a thick blanket of mist forms and then disappears, only to form again. On a good day, almost all the major peaks along the northern vista can be seen from the hill. If you look south, you can even see the Terai. For those who wish to spend more than an afternoon at Chandragiri, a resort is also under construction. The five-star property will have a total of 100 rooms.
After decades of delays, new cable car projects are getting ready to get off the ground
Elvin L Shrestha
KUNDA DIXIT
POINT OF VIEW: The view of Kathmandu and Langtang Himal that will greet visitors when the Thankot-Chandragiri cable car is operational next June, which will be the same equipment used in Manakamana (below).
Ropeways have long been recognised as an ideal mode of transportation in Nepal, but despite some pioneering projects the potential has never been fully developed. Until now.
Several tourism-related cable car projects are coming up in the next year in Pokhara, Butwal, Bhaktapur, Nagarkot, and two in Kathmandu.
“Considering Nepal’s topography and socio-economic conditions, ropeways are definitely feasible,” says Guna Raj Dhakal of the group, Ropeway Nepal set up by Nepali engineers to promote cable car projects in the country. “Building roads is six times more expensive than ropeways.”
The best known cable car system in Nepal is the one to Manakamana temple in Gorkha district. There have also been smaller ropeway projects to help farmers get their produce to market quicker.
However, attempts to start similar ventures at other shrines and mountain tops in the past decade have been delayed or abandoned due to problems with land acquisition, bureaucracy and local opposition.
But now several projects are getting ready to get off the ground. Construction has begun on a tourist cable car system from Thankot to the summit of Chandragiri (2,563m) at the western edge of Kathmandu Valley. When it is completed in June 2015, the 2.4 km cable car link will take tourists to a temple on top as well as offer spectacular views of Kathmandu and the mountains beyond.
The project includes a plan to construct a 100-room hotel designed by architect Arun Pant on the summit, a Shiva temple and an amusement park at the bottom station in Thankot. Equipment is being imported from Austria’s Doppelmayr company which was also used on Manakamana.
Another even more ambitious project is going to link Godavari to the top of Pulchoki, which at 2,672m is the highest point on the Kathmandu Valley rim. The project has got its final go-ahead from the government as well as the local authorities, and construction is expected to begin in December.
There are two other projects in Bhaktapur, one to the top of Sanga Hill and a smaller chair-lift project in Nagarkot. Designs for the Sanga cable car venture are complete and equipment from a Swiss company have been acquired, but local land compensation issues have delayed it.
Annapurna Cable Car, a joint venture between Himalayan Kanko Kaihatsu of Japan and Trans Himalayan Tour of Nepal plan to make a premium hotel on top of Sarangkot in Pokhara, famous for its sunrise views. Construction of the hotel and cable car is expected to start in January. Butwal is also planning a tourist-pilgrim cable car next year.
In addition, Ropeway Nepal is getting inquiries from villages across Nepal to build cargo and passenger ropeways to cross major rivers as well as to shrines and tourist spots. “There is a lot of interest from districts like Myagdi and Sindhuli,” says Dhakal, whose company designs and fabricates Nepali-made ropeway systems.
There have been cargo ropeways run by local communities linking Kirne to Bhotechhap for the Khimti Hydropower project and Darimchhaur to Khaira for the Jhimruk Project. There have also been successful small gravity ropeways in Gorkha, Tanahu and Sindhuli.
Download book, Ropeways in Nepal
Ropeway relics
Nepal’s Rana rulers were much more visionary about the potential for ropeways than our contemporary rulers. It was Chandra Shumshere who installed a 22km cargo ropeway between Dhorsing and Kathmandu in 1924, although he appears to have preferred ropeways in order to retain Kathmandu Valley’s strategic inaccessibility from the Indian plains.
It took another 40 years for Nepal’s second ropeway to be set up with the US government help. The 42km Hetauda-Kathmandu Nepal Ropeway (pic) cost half as much as the Tribhuvan Highway on the same route to build. The government-run ropeway and the private trucks on the highway were bitter rivals, and in the end, the highway won.
In 1964, when Nepal Ropeway went into operation, it pulled so much electricity from the grid that Kathmandu Valley’s lights dimmed when it was running. Government apathy, mismanagement and neglect took their toll. The ropeway was never used to more than half its capacity northbound, and the cars always headed back to Hetauda empty. Although it showed its utility during the Indian blockade (1988-89) and when monsoon landslides washed off both Tribhuvan and Prithvi Highways in 1993, Nepal Ropeway was finally closed down in 2001. But its towers still stand and empty cars sit frozen above the Kulekhani reservoir.
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