‘At an elevation of 15000 ft. above sea level’- Cabinet approves two major ropeway projects in Uttarakhand under Parvatmala Pariyojana

According to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), Govindghat to Hemkund Sahib Ji ropeway project will have Monocable Detachable Gondola from Govindghat to Ghangaria (10.55 km) and further integrated with the advanced Tricable Detachable Gondola (3S) technology from Ghangaria to Hemkund Sahib Ji (1.85 km). It will have a design capacity of 1,100 passengers per hour per direction (PPHPD) with maximum carrying capacity of 11,000 passengers per day.

Whereas, Sonprayag to Kedarnath ropeway will have Tri-cable Detachable Gondola (3S) technology with a design capacity of 1,800 passengers per hour per direction carrying 18,000 passengers per day.

Tri-cable Detachable Gondola is a ropeway system where the Gondola or passenger compartment is supported by three cables and the gondola can be detached from the haul rope at the stations for loading an unload of passengers. Tri-cable Detachable Gondola have higher capacity, longer span between towers and higher cost compared to monocable systems, which runs on a single cable.

Ropeways do not need large construction works on the ground surface as such incur lower land acquisition costs. It has higher cost of construction per km than roadways. However, ropeways may be more economical than roadways.

In an statement, the ministry said that the project will foster the economic growth of the region as both religious sites- Hemkund Sahib ji and Kedarnath- attract lakhs of pilgrims every year.

Hemkund Sahib Ji is situated at an elevation of 15,000 ft in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, where the Gurudwara open for about 5 months in a year between May and September and is visited by about 1.5 to 2 lakh pilgrims annually. Similarly, Kedarnath is situated at an elevation of 3,583 m (11968 ft) in the Rudraprayag district, where the temple is open for about seven months and is visited by around 20 lakh pilgrims annually.

Both the projects will significantly increase the total length of Parvatmala Pariyojna. Launched in Union Budget 2022-23, MoRTH’s ambitious ropeway scheme aims to develop more than 250 projects with ropeway length of over 1,200 kilometers under PPP model with around 60 percent contribution support by Government of India. The Programme is being implemented by National Highway Logistics Management Limited (NHLML), a special purpose vehicle of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

According to the ministry’s annual report 2024-25, a total of Rs. 300 crore was allocated for the ropeway projects during current financial year and out of this Rs. 200 crore was spent till December 31, 2024.

The ropeway projects of 60 km length was planned for award during FY25. Out of this, Ropeway at Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) of 3.85 km is under construction. Apart from this, three ropeway projects of 4.93 km length are awarded for Bijli Mahadev (Himachal Pradesh), Dhosi Hill (Haryana), and Mahakaleshwar Temple (Madhya Pradesh).

The bids for seven projects of 53.28 km length have been invited, including both Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib project which received cabinet approval. Apart from this, detailed Feasibility Study is in progress for additional 12 projects of 39 km length. In addition, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with 13 States/UTs.