A delegation of New Development Bank (NDB) led by Dr. D.J. Pandian, Director General and Head, Indian Regional Office Ahmedabad, had a meeting with Chief Minister, Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Deputy Chief Minister, Mukesh Agnihotri and discussed the execution of Shimla Innovative Urban Transport Ropeway Project. The Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister welcomed the delegation whole-heartily and assured them of full cooperation and support for the execution of the ropeway project and requested the Bank to expedite the sanctioning of multilateral funding for this project by the end of November, 2023.
The Shimla Ropeway Project will have a network of 14.13 kilometer ropeways connecting 15 stations with a project cost of Rs. 1546.40 crore. This urban ropeway project will be the second of its kind in the world and the first in India which will go a long way in the decongestion of Shimla city. Ropeway & Rapid Transport System Development Corporation (RTDC) has made substantial progress in the preparation for DPR of this project which is expected to be completed by 30th June 2023. The drone surveys have been completed and traffic surveys were likely to be completed by mid-April 2023. Apart from this the Geo-tech investigations and ESIA studies were in process.
The Chief Minister also apprised the Director General, about State Government plans for this eco-friendly, clean and green mode of transport in a big way, be it for the decongestion of cities, providing connectivity to left-out unconnected habitations or enhancing tourism potential. The Deputy Chief Minister also discussed other ongoing Jan Shakti Vibhag projects being funded by NDB. Sanjay Gupta, Chairman-cum-Managing Director RTDC, R D Nazeem, Pr. Secretary (Transport), Er. Ajay Sharma Director, (RTDC) & Er. Rohit Thakur Chief General Manager (RTDC) also attended the meeting.
