KATHMANDU (AP) — Nepal’s Ministry of Forestry and Environment is preparing to allow cable cars to be installed in areas of the country, a draft law proposed by Mongabay suggests.
Cable cars, which carry cable cars, are not allowed in protected areas such as national parks under current legislation. But the draft National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Regulations show that the government is considering allowing its structure if it makes it easier for other people and goods to and from religious or tourist sites, provided there are no other viable public shipping features or if a cable car is considered more environmentally and wildlife friendly compared to the chosen shipping methods.
“We still want to finalize the main points of the agreement,” Bed Kumar Dhakal, a spokesman for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, told Mongabay. He denied that the task was being completed. However, a government source showed Mongabay a draft of the document, which also includes a provision allowing hotels and resorts to re-enter national parks such as Chitwan, which is home to iconic wildlife such as tigers and rhinos.
Discussions over the draft regulation come months after the Nepalese government recently issued a contentious new directive allowing the construction of large-scale hydropower plants within areas of the country, despite opposition from environmentalists. The Ministry of Forestry and Environment is also working on new regulations. to allow hotels to operate in national parks such as Chitwan, according to a draft reviewed through Mongabay.
The factor of building cable cars in spaces emerged after former Minister of Forests and Environment Prem Bahadur Ale passed a decree in May 2020 opening up spaces for hydroelectric and cable car projects.
However, the warring parties challenged the order in court, and a court struck it down a year later, saying it did recognize it. It also called on the government to prepare an appropriate law to address this issue.
Cable cars have attracted a lot of attention from the personal sector in Nepal as a profit-making tourism product. Private corporations have proposed a dozen cable cars across the country and pledged to invest millions of dollars in them. Some of the proposed projects, such as the Annapurna Conservation Area, pass through or merge into areas, raising ecological considerations such as habitat degradation and fragmentation.
The proposed regulations stipulate that the base station or end station of a cable car must be located outside of a domain and on private land. It also stipulates that expanders will be allowed to expand only the minimum of structures required for the facility’s operation.
Under the proposed regulations, the annual fees that developers will have to pay to the government for the land will be decided based on the length of the cable car. While projects covering less than one kilometer ($0. 6 miles) will be charged 1. 8 million rupees ($13,500), those covering more than five kilometers (3 miles) will be charged five million rupees ($37,500).
Banner image: A peak in Chitwan National Park. Image by Jonny Flickr (CC BY 2. 0).
Abhaya Raj Joshi is editor of Mongabay in Nepal. Find him at X @arj272.
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