The ”Tsakhkadzor-1” and ”Tsakhdadzor 2” ropeway construction
program is being implemented by the Kajaran copper-ardent factory. The
project coordinator from the Armenian side is president of the Sports
Committee Ishkhan Zakaryan. He is collaborating with the
Italian-Swedish Leitner AG Company, which is one of the best ropeway
construction companies in the world. Rainer Richard, who is the
representative of the Leitner Company and has been working in this
field for the past 38 years, is currently in Armenia. Mr. Richard
commented on the mountains of Tsakhkadzor as ”very beautiful, however,
the roads leading to the mountains are not in good condition and thus
people can only be transported there to work by cars. Recently, there
have been some problems with the weather. The Armenian side, which
includes Ishkhan Zakaryan and the constructors, has done a tremendous
amount of technical work and has faced many difficulties.” This
company is particularly specialized in ropeway construction. The
Leitner company has constructed ropeways in various countries,
including Italy, Russia, Kazakhstan, Canada, the U.S.A., Japan, Korea,
etc. The first pole for the ropeway was put on October the 6th, and the
last one on October 31st. The ropeway is being constructed according to
European standards.
The Leitner company has prepared all the electric and security
equipment and has made them correspond to international norms. ”These
types of ropeways are armed with electric and diesel engines. We have
foreseen an escalator for the comfort of everyone. This helps people
sit easily. The seats are designed so that as soon as you sit on it,
your body gets warm,” said Mr. Richard. Tsakhkadzor’s ropeway was
constructed in the beginning of the 1970s and had not been remodeled
since.
Mr. Richard announced that this year the Leitner Company, which has
more than 600 specialists working in its central factory, has gotten 75
orders for ropeway construction from different countries around the
world. ”These countries are making the ropeways with an outlook for
the future. There are huge problems with transportation in big cities.
Constructing metro stations is more expensive than ropeways. After
completing our job here in Tskahkadzor, we are going to start work on a
big network of ropeways over the city of Hong Kong- starting from the
Hong Kong airport and intersecting at the sea. As of today, the ropeway
is considered as a form of transportation.” The Soviet technology of
Armenia left a great impression on Mr. Richard. For example, the crane,
which somehow functions all the way up in the mountains. I. Zakaryan
joked by saying that they will donate the crane to the Leitner Company
as a sample for a museum after the construction is done. Raitner
refused, however, stating that they don’t have a museum with so many
antique items.
The ropeway will be ready on December 15-20.