Rs 34-cr plan for aerial tour over zoo & lake via ropeway awaits state green nod

Nagpur: Even as the Gorewada international zoo remains a project in the works, a proposal to include a 4-5km ropeway ride as an added attraction at the zoo, has been submitted to the state government who will be sending it to the state environment ministry
for clearance. A top bureaucrat said that the state had accepted the ropeway project in-principle. “We have asked the state wildlife and forest department to submit a detailed report on the proposal and once that comes in, we will take it up with the Central Zoo Authority,” the bureaucrat said.“We are also studying the Singapore zoo model which already has such a ropeway,” the official added.
The Rs 34-crore Gorewada zoo ropeway proposal has been mooted by West Nagpur BJP MLA Sudhakar Deshmukh, whose constituency includes the site for the zoo. “The ropeway will run across the proposed night safari site, the forest, and Gorewada lake to reach the entertainment hub planned on 26 hectare non-forest land. This land has been handed over to Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM),” Deshmukh told TOI.
Deshmukh first discussed the idea around two months ago with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s office and a meeting was held with principal secretary Praveen Pardeshi at Ravi Bhavan recently. Gorewada zoo consultant Ashfaque Ahmed, who was also present during the meeting, said, “The ropeway will be structured on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. It is a costly proposition with each km of ropeway costing Rs 8 crore, but it is an attractive idea, all the same. Talks have been held with some entities in the country as well as in Hong Kong, on how to go about the project,” Ahmed said.
The ropeway is being positioned as a separate attraction in itself and not as part of the other zoo features like the Indian safari, African safari, the river ride etc. which are included in the 564 hectare zoo project. “Visitors using the ropeway will be able to see dense forest and animals from the top. The facility will also remain open from 6pm to 9pm,” said Deshmukh, adding that incorporating an aerial tour as an attraction would make the zoo even more attractive and boost its revenue.
While senior forest officials find that the ropeway idea has promise, getting clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, which is a pre-requisite, is not going to be easy. Deshmukh, however, says not much forest land will be needed for the ropeway project.
The proposal for Gorewada zoo has already received clearance from the Central Zoo Authority and is pending approval from the MoEF at the Centre.
A similar aerial tour over Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), from Borivli to Thane, is being considered. The idea was mooted by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to make SGNP a bigger attraction.