New Ropeway scam of Modi: Godi Media Silent.
I am a longtime supporter of Ropeways and sustainable tourism in Himalayas, even adventure and winter sports (except snowball throwing, which is most popular in India). And I always wondered why we can't have nice ropeways, when even Nepal has some.
So I was actually very happy to know, Kedarnath & Badrinath will get 2 ropeways, so I read the Modi doing "Foundation stone" of ropeways news. The ceremony was of course a grandstanding and hyperbole exercise to garner Hindu right wing votes, still it could have been beneficial in the long run. No adventure sports enthusiasts but pilgrims will be transported by the cable cars here. Still better than highly polluting cars and choppers.
Price Tag , Oh the Price Tag
2430,00,00,000 Rupees, yes, 2430 crore rupees.
To compare Ropeways costs, specially alpine / Himalayas ropeways , the trick is to convert the project cost in Euro(s). Currency conversion is easy these days, divide by 81 , for approximations, by 80.
So round about, 30 crore or 300 million euros. Fine, it involves 2 ropeways, 150 million euro each.
But I know, state of the art ropeways are getting installed in Europe for 30-40 million euros.
Ropeways of these kind are a duopoly globally, Either Leitner or Doppelmayr does that. I don't know who bagged the project. Indian Media reports are never that detailed.
Would anyone care to explain the astronomical costs?
Don't try Himalayas is taller than Alps argument.
Ropeways in Alps always end at sky slope top or Mountain top , whereas these ropeways are terminating in a valley, near temple towns.
While giving the altitude argument, also remember, they is ropeway / cable car planned and for much shorter distance, Tender value was another astronomical, 641 crore for merely 3.8 km travel from Varanasi cantonment metro to Gondolia park.
Surely, Modi will lay another foundation stone there, come next election.
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