Shimla gets its first ropeway

After a 10-year wait, Shimla today got its first ropeway linking Jakoo, the highest peak here, with Rani Jhansi Park in the heart of the "queen of hills".
The ropeway will bring down to a mere six minutes the time taken to cover the distance between the two points, which till now took about an hour on foot with a steep climb of 8800 feet.
Inaugurating the ropeway, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the project faced several odds, while its environment clearance was delayed but finally the ropeway has come up after 10 years.
The chief minister said it was his "dream project" and just one of its kind in the state which would further give boost to the tourism industry here.

The ropeway has been constructed at a cost of Rs 40 crore in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
The private partner company Jagson International Ltd would give Rs 57 lakh as dividend through tourism department to the government in the first year of the ropeway operations and thereafter 15 per cent of the money collected every year.