GRAVITY GOODS
ROPEWAY
Last year, Birendra Hamal, Regional
Agriculture Director visited Mansangkot VDC
for official work. The path to Mansangkot is a
two hours steep walk and the rain had made
the path slippery. He noticed tomatoes lying
all over the path and wondered where the
tomatoes had come from? Further up and he
saw two school boys sitting and crying. When
he inquired, they told him that their families
had sent them with loads of tomatoes to sell
in the market and they slipped and fell spilling
tomatoes all over.
“I immediately thought what if the villagers
could send their produce filled in a plastic
bag? I knew this was not the solution and the
quest for an answer to solve the transportation
of vegetables from uphill to the main highway
haunted me in a positive way,” adds Hamal.
Hamal enquired many agriculture offices in
Syanja District but failed to find a solution to
his pursuit. Finally in Tanahu a local NGO
informed him about Practical Action’s work in
ropeways. “I called Practical Action in
Kathmandu and was directed to the Practical
Answers team and enquired about the
ropeway. From there I was transferred to
Rabindra Singh, a ropeway expert from Practical Action.”
Hamal, Rabindra, Jivan KC, Practical Action’s Access Project’s Manager and the community
members held numerous meetings regarding a feasibility study. Rabindra then conducted the
study for a possible ropeway in Syanja District.
“I am grateful to Rabindra and his organisation for conducting the study free of charge. The
study concluded a budget of Nrs. 1,700,000. I immediately dispatched the completed study
and a justification letter requesting for the allocated budget,” explains Hamal.
After circulation of the study among the concerned ministries, the Finance Ministry finally
approved the budget and an approval letter was sent to Ministry of Local Development
(MoLD). Ananda Bajracharya, Deputy Director, Department of Agriculture sent the good news
to Hamal.
Along with the budget approval in came the cooperation of agriculture offices, the
Cooperatives and the farmers put in hard work to transport materials from the highway to the
uphill station. A lot of manual work is required to transport the wires from the down station to
the upper station and men and women came in great numbers every day to help carry the
wires, gravels and necessary tools required for the construction.
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