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Trust | Maharashtra - India | PID: 190303
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India’s longest ropeway project — connecting Mumbai with the Elephanta Caves — will soon clear the final hurdle.
Union Tourism and Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel and Union Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya was held recently, wherein the Culture Ministry is learnt to have assured the latter of “extending full cooperation” on the project.
Pitted as the country’s first and longest ropeway project over the sea, the initiative is to be executed by the Mumbai Port Trust, under the Ministry of Shipping.
The Elephanta caves, located on the Elephanta Islands, off Mumbai, was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1987, due to which clearance will have to be taken from Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), besides the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and the Ministry of Environment.
Once the final approval comes in, construction work on the Rs 700-crore project is scheduled to start by year-end. The project will take around 42 months to complete.
The 14-minute ride by 30-seater cable cars will give a major boost to tourism, said sources in the tourism ministry.
The tentative fare is expected to be around Rs 500 for the journey both ways for Indians and Rs 1,000 for foreign tourists. The ropeway will also offer a view of mudflats on the east coast and the mangroves.
According to the project report prepared by the Mumbai Port Trust(MbPT), it expects around Rs 378 crore as annual turnover. The report reads: “We envisage the turnover to be in the region of Rs 378 crore.
| Updated on: 12 - Aug - 2019
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