Ropeways In Nepal

The topography of Nepal is very harsh and diverse. Most of the parts of the country are hills and mountains. The hilly regions, bounded by plain terrain and Tibetan plateau are extremely complicated geo-physically uneasy accessibility of remote areas is one of major constraint in the delivery of essential services, markets and all aspects of development work in Nepal. The Nepalese economy is mainly agrarian. At one side the good agricultural products are not been able to reach market at the same time the country has to be reliant on imported products. About 80% of economically active population lives in rural areas (1 lakh rural settlements). Until today, there are about 16,000 km of roads. But they are mostly concentrated in plain area of the country. The majority of human settlements are located in hills and mountains and hence not accessible by motorized vehicles. In response to these specific conditions, low cost gravity ropeways have a good perspective in Nepal.  

These ropeways can be a lifeline of remote and inaccessible villages. They are used not only to carry food grains, grocery items, building material to the village but also play a key role in transportation of village produce to the market. Thus the supply of milk products, marketing of fruits and vegetables can be made smoothly functioning between villages and road heads.

First Ropeway in Nepal was constructed in 1924 to carry stones from quarry in Halchowk to Lainchour (4 km) for the construction of Rana Palaces.

The second ropeway (22 km) was constructed in 1927 from Dhorsing (Bhimfedi) to Matatirtha (Kathmandu). Later in 1947, it was extended to Teku (+6.5km). The third ropeway replacing the second started to operstes from Hetauda to Kathmandu (45 km) in 1964.