Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today unveiled the foundation stone for the Shillong Ropeway project at the Shillong Peak viewpoint.
The foundation stone was laid by President of India Droupadi Murmu on January 16 this year.
The passenger ropeway project has been proposed that will take tourists directly from the Lower Terminal Point located in Riat Laban near Madan Laban Nepali Secondary school, Laban to the Upper Terminal Point near the Shillong Peak. The Lower Terminal Point will be the “drive” station and the Upper Terminal Point will be the “return” terminal. Both of these stations shall also be developed to provide adequate space for comfortable boarding and deboarding of passengers etc. and accommodate all other necessary passenger facilities.
The system design is Monocable Detachable Gondola System and fully enclosed cabin with automatic doors. The length of the ropeway is 896 m and the level difference is 299 m. The capacity of the ropeway is 600 passengers per hour at a speed of 5m/second and the journey time is about 4 minutes.
Shillong Peak Ropeway Project is an externally aided project funded by the New Development Bank under the Meghalaya Ecotourism Infrastructure Development Project (MEIDP). Detailed Project Report (DPR) is prepared by RITES Limited and the cost of the project is Rs. 175.03 crore.
During the function, the chief minister and minister of tourism Paul Lyngdoh handed over the letter of acceptance to the construction firm–KEC International–Tantia Construction Limited JV to officially begin the construction.
The chief minister also handed over the second installment of Rs 1.5 crore to Glanding Lyngdoh, general secretary of Riat Laban Dorbar Pyllun, which is part of the token amount of Rs 3 crore for land compensation.
Sangma expressed optimism that the dorbar will use this for the benefit of the youth, the society, locality, poor people living in the locality, adding that cooperation and collaboration between the community and the government will foster the growth of the tourism sector.
Lyngdoh said, “This is also the cradle of Hima Shillong, the seat of ‘lei Shillong. Therefore, we are in the midst of the divine, befittingly so in the 150th anniversary of Shillong as the capital town. The capital town of Shillong was shifted from Sohra in 1874 and today is the best possible gift to the city of Shillong on its 150th year.”
South Shillong MLA Sanbor Shullai said the ropeway is a long-pending project of the constituency. He acknowledged the hard work of the chief minister for materialising the project.
