Dehradun, Mar 7 (IANS): After a delay of over 11 years, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for the Dehradun-Musssoorie ropeway project which is considered to be a tourist novelty.

The Rs 300-crore ropeway project is expected to be completed in three years, the Chief Minister said at a function here.

Poma, a French company which manufactures cable-driven projects, will provide the technical support to the ropeway which will be built on the PPP mode. "This will be one of the world's longest ropeways," said Rawat.

The ropeway will shorten the one-hour zigzag drive to just 15 minutes from Purkul village the base camp at Dehradun to Mussoorie, Rawat said.

Conceptualized in 2007-08, the Dehradun-Mussoorie ropeway, a dream project of the state tourism department, was caught in the red-tape and forest clearances.

Despite being accorded the status of large revenue generating project (LRG), the department had failed to get all the forest clearances at Purkul and other areas in Mussoorie.

The government had wanted to commence work on the Mussoorie ropeway project only after getting the Centre's nod on the LRG. Under the scheme, Uttarakhand has sought Rs 50 crore from the Centre as viability gap funding for the project which will be a big attraction in the bidding process.

The tourism department had initiated a series of ropeway projects on PPP mode at various tourist and religious centres of the hill state during the B.C. Khanduri government. Most of these projects are hanging fire.