Potential Development of Gravity Goods Ropeway Andits Impact on Rural Livelihood. (A case study of Gholechappra settlement at Bukhel VDC in Lalitpur district)

Abstract

Nepal is a mountainous country. 83% of total area consists of mountains and hills.Hence inaccessibility is the greatest hindrances in the delivery of essentialservices and development as a whole. The highly challenging topography andproblematic hydro geological condition has rendered the extension of roadnetwork really capital intensive, daunting and environmental hazardous. From thegovernment data, just 62km road network was expanded in one year 2008/9.Thisdismalpicture shows the priority of Nepalgovernment in road building. In this whole scenario, Gravity goods ropeway is power to the rural economy. It isenvironment friendly and financially viable technology and has the potential toeconomically empower the marginalized people in rural area. It has supportedbetter market linkage, increased income generation activities, improve access tohealth and education services and fostered better community relation. The mechanics of gravity ropeway is very simple. It consists of two trolleys,rolling over two separate steel wire ropes (track ropes) supported and suspendedover two separate tower at the top and bottom ends. The trolleys are connectedto a single looped wire rope (hauling rope) of a smaller diameter by means ofrope ties. This hauling rope passes around the cast iron sheave fixed end. Whenthe loaded trolley rolls down by its own weight along one track from the upperstation, another trolley with lighter weight hauls up along the next track rope. Asimple brake with a rubber/wooden brake shoe is fitted to the sheave at thelower station to regulate the speed of the moving trolleys. Sustainability of a gravity ropeway by and large depends on the discretion of thesite selection. Proposed site should be evaluated against some technical,economic and social parameters. Even the technical feasibility of gravity ropewayhas bearing with socio-economic feasibility hence it should precede the technicalfeasibility. In the context of Nepal’s rural areas,clean and reliable green energy technologieslike gravity good ropeways seem to be less expensive and require less time todevelop. But still the knowledge based on technical and other socio economicaspects of gravity good ropeway is not that broad. With this limited knowledge iv base, it is difficult chart out exclusive strategies for its development. Hence moreis needed to be done in the areas of research and development. Involvement ofacademia like engineering institution would be important role in preparing oftechnical need of the rural community. They can play important role in thepreparation of technical guidelines and code of practices. Likely, social research isrequired to find the niche of gravity goods ropeway in overall transportationsector, explore its potential as the complementary means of transport, identifyexisting policy hurdle if any propose more conducive policies and strategies. In the research, it is difficult to study whole universe under study due to highcost, time consuming and complexities. Therefore, sampling plays important rolein research work. Data collected without a proper sampling procedure andsuitable sample size may not meet the objectives .Among the total number ofdirectly study affected 120 HHsat Bukhel VDC, 62 HHs were selected purposivelyby stratified sampling method and one member from each household were furtherinterviewed. Social issues related to the construction of the proposed gravity goods ropewaydug out during this research work also must be addressed. Findingof this studywill be useful for recommending planning and policy maker to formulateappropriate plans for further constructions of Gravity Goods Ropeways in ruralvillages.