Two ropeway companies — Austrian Dopplemayr Group and French Poma Group — have shown their interest to set up a joint venture with Indian Port Rail Corporation Limited (IPRCL) to design and make ropeways.

IPRCL is a subsidiary of the Shipping Ministry and has been mandated by the government to deal with multi-modal transport systems across India including ropeways.

Asian projects

IPRCL had earlier this year invited applications from companies with technical expertise and experience in running safe passengers ropeway systems in Asia and India to form a joint venture with the public sector unit.

The €800-million Dopplemayr Group has operations in Asian countries such as Singapore and China, where it has at least two projects including one in the Great Wall of China. Recently, Dopplemayr also bagged all the nine projects for Winter Olympics to be held in China in 2022, stated the company.

The €345-million Poma Group has implemented projects in Vietnam and China including one in Beijing.

IPRCL has also stated that the manufacturers should provide examples of safe and commercially viable ropeway operations, apart from possibilities of making the ropeway systems in India. It would then consider forming a joint venture where the stake of IPRCL can be mutually agreed upon.

Many State governments are looking to install ropeway systems to develop various tourist spots and to reach inaccessible terrain. Ropeways are also being considered as an alternative for providing urban transport, according to IPRCL.

Safety aspects

According to NITI-Aayog’s draft model contract agreement for setting up ropeways, European safety standards – CEN standards – were considered the most reliable and credible. “Most markets across the globe including the US, China have adopted CEN Standards as a standard for reliable, safety and high-quality ropeways,” stated the draft document. CEN standards are the European standards for ropeways.

Meanwhile, NITI-Aayog has told the Indian Ropeway Manufacturers Association — who also wanted the option to choose the ropeways with Indian standards —to consider and suggest those ropeways that are safer for the users, according to industry source.

Indian ropeway manufacturers pointed out that those being used in India — most of which are on Indian standards — do not require subsidy. Use of European standards will increase the price, feel the Indian manufacturers.

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