GRAVITY GR 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.
Practical Action, The Schumacher, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV23 9QZ, UK T +44 (0)1926 634400 | F +44 (0)1926 634401 | E infoserv@practicalaction.org.uk | W www.practicalaction.org ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Practical Action is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee. Company Reg. No. 871954, England | Reg. Charity No.247257 | VAT No. 880 9924 76 | Patron HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB
Gravity goods ropeway
Practical Action
“Everyone was amazed to see the locals helping. Each one of them contributed and without their hard work and Practical Action’s continuous technical support the completion of ropeway would be difficult and long,” says Hamal. Rabindra continuously monitored the construction of ropeway from its initial stage to its completion. “I was very happy to support this initiative from the Nepal Government. This is very good for us because our work has influenced Mr. Hamal and this has led to hundreds of villagers benefiting from it,” says Rabindra. The ropeway in Syanja is in full operation today. It has reduced the transportation time drastically from 2 hours to 1 and a half minutes to transport vegetables and other goods from Mansangkot to Triyasi. The ropeway has helped transport fresh vegetables to the market improving the income of many farmers in the uphill station. Due to the successful installation of ropeway in Syanja the cooperatives in other neighbouring districts have also started to include the ropeway component in their local development plans. Practical Answers is a free service and it helps Practical Action to directly work with information seekers and provide them with the technical information. Practical Action as an organisation is proud to provide its expertise and experience for the elimination of poverty in Nepal. This document was produced in October 2010. Practical Action Nepal Office PO Box 15135, Pandol Marg, Lazimpat Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: +00 977 1 444 6015 and 443 4482 Fax: +00 977 1 444 5995 E-mail: nepal@practicalaction.org.np
Practical Action is a development charity with a difference. We know the simplest ideas can have the most profound, life-changing effect on poor people across the world. For over 40 years, we have been working closely with some of the world’s poorest people - using simple technology to fight poverty and transform their lives for the better. We currently work in 15 countries in Africa, South Asia and Latin America.
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