Bhubaneswar: The state Forest and Environment department will conduct a public hearing next month to resume the ropeway service in Nandankanan to attract more tourists to the Zoological Park.
According to Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray, the public hearing will take place May 18 on Nandankanan High School premises and three months after the date of the public hearing, environment clearance will be secured for the ropeway project and then work will start.
To attract more tourists to the zoo, the state government in 1986 had signed an agreement with Ropeway and Resorts Private Ltd of Kolkata to operate the facility for 30 years. The ropeway started operating from October 1, 1994. However, its poor maintenance led to technical snags, following which the ropeway couldn’t operate regularly. The company also started defaulting on tax payment to the state following which the government scrapped its licence in December 2011.
In a bid to restart the attraction, officials said, Damodar Ropeway & Infra Limited, Kolkata, was selected in 2016 through tender and the two sides had signed an agreement.
Besides, sources in the department said, RITES firm has been engaged to resume the toy train service in NZP once the renovation work is over.
Outsourcing of management and operation of toy train service at the zoo started in 2008 and initially it was given to Gangadhar Rout with the approval of Nandankanan Purchase Committee and the service continued till 2012-13.
Later in 2013-14, when it was retendered, the Purchase Committee opted for Citicon Services Private Ltd, Bhubaneswar, for two years. However, a year later, the company showed disinterest in running the service. Consequently, the government recovered only Rs 1.25 lakh which the company had paid towards security deposit and the service was disrupted.