Introduction

Over the past years technological improvements in these kinds of systems worldwide has resulted in the more advancements in uphill and downhill detours and river crossings. Unfortunately, Nepal has not benefited from these technological improvements until now. More than two thousand trail bridges are being completed till present. But the demands are still coming. Among the demands, the crossings over 350 meter span are also large in number. So, by applying those technologies in our national context, Mechanized Ghirling targets Nepalese technicians and skilled manpower with their expertise to develop a hybrid technology using locally generated electricity and to utilize excess day time electricity for its operation. It connects farmers living in a remote village to traders and road access, education, health and employment on the other side of the river.

Lack of proper transport system for river crossing, poor economical condition of rural people and complicated geography of our nation have forced the engineers of ITD-Nepal to look for development of suitable technology which will solve the above mentioned problems. As there is a problem, there will be a solution too, the only thing required is brainstorming and analyzing the problem in proper proportions. In 2004 A.D, two students from IOE, Ramesh Chaudhary and Mahesh Marita designed and built a model of "Auto Wire Bridge" in their final year project at Pulchowk Campus. This system did not require commercial energy sources such as electricity, fossil fuel, etc. It was operated manually and based on gravity which addressed the above problems some how. But major imperfections of that system were unreliability and difficulty to be designed in every part of the country. Only specific types of locations were suitable, and high human effort might be a result. Then a team of professionals and senior engineers of ITD-Nepal realized the various problems of transportation in villages of Nepal of our country and finally, in 2005 A.D, the team came with the concept of the "Mechanized Bridge". In the mean time, Nepal Development Marketplace with the support of World Bank announced nation wide competition for the services provided in the conflict affected areas with the theme of "Launa aba ta kehi garaun" Nepal Development Marketplace was looking at innovations in providing and improving basic services to rural populations affected by the conflict.

The purpose of this program was:

• to generate fresh thinking and to test new ways of delivering basic services in Nepal's conflict affected areas
• to promote a culture of partnerships in national entrepreneurs in providing basic services

Integrated Technology Development Nepal Pvt. Ltd. and Nepal Water Conservation foundation jointly submitted the proposal on the topic of "Mechanized Bridge" which has been awarded by Nepal Development Marketplace - 2005.

The project is undergoing in its final installation phase at Kotre- Punditar of Tanahun, Nepal over the Seti River in partnership with Group for Rural Infrastructure Development Nepal (GRID Nepal) for the social and supervision works. All equipment of Mechanized Ghirling has been manufactured by Integrated Technology Development Nepal within the country using available resources. The projected span of this ropeway is about 520 meters with vertical height difference of 25 meters and inclination of about 3 degree. There are two lines (going and coming) with one trolley on each, traveling in opposite direction. Both the trolleys are run by a single closed-loop hauling cable with the help of an electric motor. There are two 26mm track cables per line, i.e. a trolley runs over two support cables. These track cables are anchored at both ends with the help of concrete and steel structures.

Movement of people and transportation of goods in mountainous area of the country take days to cover kilometers. This problem is pronounced in monsoon when water levels rise significantly. Many agro-based products such as fruits, cereals, vegetables, milk are possible to be abundantly produced at one place but difficult to be transported to the nearest market. This is because of high construction cost of roads.

But roads alone are not the best solution for the specific terrain of this country. Extensive construction of roads has negative impact on the environment. Degradation of natural integrity of mountains ultimately affects inhabitants of the region. And all these issues eventually lead to poor socioeconomic development of the people.

Ropeway has been advocated to be one of the best means of transportation in Nepal. But it has not gained momentum due to unavailability of technical expertise. Our aim is to develop ropeway which can be powered by a micro-hydro. This is a hybrid yet integrated system which has been worked out and improved further. Due to design simplicity, local entrepreneurs will be able to construct and operate the system without foreign financial assistance and finally handover this system to local people under their self-supervision. Basic technical knowledge hence will be transferred to them from its initiation to its implementation phase. Any necessary technical backup will be provided if needed.

Picture: Trolley to be used for Mechanized Ghirling

• Several potential sites will be selected in rural and remote areas of the country.
• Feasibility Study of potential sites will be conducted for technical and economical justification
• The best feasible site will be selected and its detail survey will be conducted
• Local users’ committee will be formed in locality of the project.
• Detail design will be done
• Detail Project Estimate will be prepared
• Required amount of funds will be raised from possible sources (governmental and non-governmental).
• Materials will be procured and components fabricated
• Construction work will be carried out with maximum utilization of local resources and manpower
• Four persons selected by the committee will be given operators’ training
• Management will be handed over to the local committee; however we will be in constant touch with the local committee for any help, technical guidance they need.



Picture: Mechanized Bridge under construction at Kotre, Punditar, Tanahun

More than half a population of Nepal lives on mountains. To traverse from one mountain to another across river is a problem and conventional systems like Twin, Ghirlings are being used, where available. These conventional systems are unfeasible with length of span above 350 meters. They can only be built at the narrower section of a river. It raises a necessity to build extra roads.

Secondly, for transportation on steep terrain, the only existing means is long meandering roads, most part of which is highly vulnerable in rainy season.

Thirdly, most micro hydro plants of the country are in problem of extremely low plant factor in lack of electrical loads in the day time

Our idea of Local Ropeway Technology (single span can be as long as 1500 meter) is innovative in the sense that it will be first of its kind in the country to circumvent the necessity of costly bridges as well as vulnerable feeder roads. Apart from saving environment by replacing roads, its novelty lies in utilization of locally generated power and local expertise.

It will gradually build up people’s confidence on ropeway as an economical and environmental friendly means of transportation. This is precisely where our effort will be focused applying global standards with local values and norms

Enhancement of agricultural production, promotion of tourism and attractive revenue generation for local people are some of the direct outcomes expected from the project. There are innumerable sites where schools, hospitals and markets are at few hundred meters of aerial distance but it takes hours to reach there because of difficult terrain. At such villages the condition of education, health and employment will certainly be improved by implementation of the project.

The very nature of this project makes the facility available to everybody in the locality. However children (needing schools), farmers (needing market) and women and old people (needing emergency healthcare) will be primarily benefited from the project. Also there are many places in Nepal where hotel business and tourism can be highly benefited by implementing such project.

Quantitative and qualitative impact of these outcomes can be measured by overall improvement of education, health, employment of local people; and also by revenue generation from operation of the system.

The project concerns with overall benefit of community with need based, demand driven, locally manageable and affordable technology to improve rural people’s lives, whose buying capacity and awareness towards new technologies are far too less than those of urban areas. Government effort in this direction can hardly be called satisfactory.

Social sustainability of this technology is that it can be operated and maintained locally after transferring skills through short term trainings. Economic sustainability is achieved through charges generated by users which ensure smooth operation and maintenance including replacements of parts.

The materials used in this project are locally available using local human resources by technology transfer from skilled to unskilled manpower. Community ownership built in the project through participation from initial planning to long term operation and management of the system remains as the community asset.

There are many sites in Nepal, where it would be efficient to cross a span of around 350m and larger to avoid long detours. If this local ropeway system proves to be a sustainable alternative along with generating good deal of profit, there is no reason why this idea can not serve the people elsewhere in the country. So, this shows the potential for replication in similar geographical/topographical conditions.

This idea can have nationwide application. We believe that government’s priority should shift from road construction to ropeway systems, which has also been opted by many scholars and visionary people from within the country.

There are many water streams suitable for micro hydro throughout Nepal. Several of them have not been explored due to lack of electricity users in the vicinity. Therefore local ropeway technology combined with micro-hydro will be a novel example of integrated technology and will help foster both ropeway and micro-hydro business in Nepal. Due to high benefit-to-cost ratio it has high potential to be developed as a promising business for investments. So, development of ropeway should be a government's priority sector in Nepal.

Due to its inherent immunity against earthquake and landslides, with its minimal ground level infrastructure, this system is highly suitable for the difficult Nepalese terrain.