A cable car project has been proposed for the implementation by President Ranil Wickremesinghe for visitors to World’s End following the revival of an already approved project.
The President said that the cable car service will link Pattipola and Boralanda.He expressed these views while attending the Nuwara Eliya District Development Committee meeting held at the Nuwara Eliya District Secretariat on Thursday 22.
The measures to be taken for the promotion of the tourism industry in the Nuwara Eliya District were among the matters discussed at the meeting.
“Special programs are needed to boost the tourism industry in the Nuwara Eliya District. But nothing should be done in such a way as to harm the environment. Horton plain is the highest place in Sri Lanka.
Therefore, nothing can be done to destroy it. We hope to bring a new law to protect the Horton Plains. Also, steps are being taken to commence a cable car service between Pattipola and Boralanda for those visiting World’s End,” the President’s Media Division quoted the President as saying.
In 2021 the then Government had signed an agreement to initiate the country’s first-ever cable car project in Nuwara Eliya with an investment of around US$ 55 million.
The cable car project proposed at the time was to cover a distance of 4 km from Nanu-Oya to Nuwara-Eliya in two phases.
The first step towards building a four-kilometre-long cable car link between Nanu Oya and Nuwara Eliya with an investment of $ 55 million to boost tourism was finalized at that time .
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Urban Development Authority and Outdoor Engineering Lanka Ltd., a subsidiary of Sweden Outdoor Engineering Ltd., which has over 20 years of experience in handling several cable car links was signed. The project was to be handed over on a 30-year lease.
According to the Ministry, the project will be carried out within 18 months and in two phases. The MoU follows completion of feasibility study.
Cabinet of Ministers revalidated the project that was approved in 2019, subject to an assessment on environment, financial and operational feasibility.
The million dollar cable car project proposed under the government’s ambitious Nuwara Eliya tourism zone development initiative after receiving the cabinet approval, has got stuck in financial and environmental issues, according to official assessment reports and relevant documents.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the project in 2019 during the previous regime and it was re-introduced under the then government’s tourism zone development initiative in 2021
There were costs overruns between the new project proposal of Outdoor Engineering Lanka Ltd and its previous proposal in 2019, raising issues of financial and operational feasibility, an internal government audit inspection divulged.
According to the audit report, the estimated cost of the project indicated in 2019 cabinet proposal was U$50 million while in the new proposal it has jacked up to $63.1 million.
The cost for the project has increased by a staggering $13 million despite having no changes from the previous proposal, the audit query pointed out, as the government has to eventually pay the investor.
