NEPAL: Cable Car To Be Built Along Sedibagar-Sarangkot

Annapurna Cable Car Pvt Ltd is all set to develop cable car facility along the tourism hub Sedibagar–Sarangkot from Phewa lake in Pokhara within one-and-a-half years.Nepali entrepreneurs will share 85 per cent of the total investment while a Japanese company will support the remaining 15 per cent, according to Chairperson of the project Kalu Gurung. The locals will contribute 10 per cent of the total investment.

According to Gurung, discussions on handing over 49 per cent share of the cable car to the public are under way. Sunrise Bank is said to be investing a major chunk of the total Rs 1 billion budget. As per the proposal, the cable car will be installed using Japanese Nippon technology and there will be at least 36 cars.

Ropeway Nepal Chairperson Guna Raj Dhakal, who has been entrusted with the technical responsibility, said there will be 14 poles for the 2,100-metre distance and it will take around seven to nine minutes to cross the distance.

He expressed belief that the cable car facility will be a major tourist attraction as people can enjoy the beautiful sight of mountains, green hills, lakes and valleys through the ride.

“People can experience sunrise, sunset, Phewa lake, world Peace Stupa, snow capped mountain ranges and green forests from the cable car,” claimed Chairperson Gurung. Manakamana Darshan Pvt Ltd has been entrusted with the construction of the project.

At least 3,500 tourists visit Sarangkot on a daily basis. Sarangkot can be reached after 45 minutes’ drive from Pokhara. At least 500 KW electricity is required to operate the cable cars.

Education Minister Dhaniram Paudel said the ministry was trying to bring out a new Education Regulation within 15 days.

Speaking at an interaction organised by Educational Journalist Network Nepal today, Minister Paudel said the ministry had collected recommendations from all stakeholders and revised the draft more than nine times.

“We have now decided to bring out a new Educational Regulation compatible with the amended Education Act.”

Minister Paudel said the regulation would require all educational institutions to operate schools in two levels — from pre-primary to Grade VIII, and from Grade IX to XII.

“We have formulated the regulation as per the Act, and believe it will be acceptable to all stakeholders,” he said, adding that they were willing to amend the regulation in future, if necessary.

Paudel also said they had not been able to reconstruct all quake-damaged schools and solve the issue of temporary teachers because of lack of adequate budget.

At the same programme, lawmaker Ranju Jha Thakur said the quality of education in public schools had degraded further and the Education Regulation must be implemented on time to resolve the problem.

Responding to queries from Private and Boarding School’s Organisation Nepal, Higher Secondary School’s Association Nepal, and Teacher’s Union Nepal, she said the regulation would have to be updated again in future as it had been prepared to solve only a few immediate problems.

During interaction, NPABSON President Karna Bahadur Shahi said the state was trying to displace private schools .

“We have been providing quality education by investing our own property, but the state doesn’t want us to thrive. It has been demotivating us,” said Shahi. He added that private schools had put forth many demands which must be addressed by the ministry through the new regulation.