Patna, Jan. 31: Scaling the historic Mandar Hill in Banka or the Rohtasgarh Fort in Rohtas could soon be a cakewalk, oops “ropewalk”.

The tourism department is planning to install ropeways or escalators at both the sites to attract more tourists. Rajgir is the only place in the state having a ropeway. It was installed 40 years ago.

A tourism department official said the plan to install ropeways at Mandar Hill was in the advanced stage. The Rohtasgarh plan was in the primary stage, he confided.

“To woo more tourists to Rohtasgarh and Mandar, we recently invited bids from interested firms to prepare the field survey, feasibility study, estimates and detailed project report on introducing ropeways, escalators or any other system of mass rapid transport at the two hills. The selected operator would have to install and operate the escalator or ropeway on turnkey basis for five years. RITES has been engaged for the installation of the ropeway at Mandar Hill. It has completed the survey,” said D.K. Shrivastav, the director of the state tourism department.

He added: “RITES has submitted the topographical survey, photograph of the site and land requirement estimate. We will award the work for the construction of the ropeway as soon as we get an approval from the environment and forests department and the district administration for the acquisition of land at the site proposed for the ropeway at Mandar Hill.”

Banka district administration acknowledged that the land transfer was a roadblock in installing the ropeway at Mandar Hill.

“Mandar Hill is a notified forest area. Any construction work there requires approval from the environment and forests department. The district administration has to transfer a plot of land area measuring the same to be acquired for the installation of the proposed ropeway for approval. We are in the final stages of transferring a government land to the forests department, the last step before the commencement of construction work for the proposed ropeway. We intend to acquire the land from the forests department by February end,” said Adesh Titarmare, the district magistrate of Banka.