Sky bridge to woo more tourists

Gangtok, Apr 27 (UNI) The Sikkim government has conceived an ambitious project to build a sky bridge atop a mountain cliff, popularly known as Bhaley Dhunga, to woo more tourists to the state.

Chief Minister Pawan Chamling announced this while addressing the 4th Sectoral summit on Tourism and Hospitality industry here today.

The bridge is similar to the one recently unveiled in Arizona, USA, he said.

The proposed bridge will stand at an elevation of 10,102 feet and the cliff would be connected by a ropeway from a nearby town.

The Chief Minister urged the union government to provide all support for the early commencement of the project.

He said the state witnessed a rise in number of tourists from one lakh, including 7,000 foreign tourists to more than three lakh including around 17,000 foreign tourists, in 2005 alone.

The proposed bridge, the Chief Minister hoped, would give a further boost to tourism and a fillip to the state economy.

Recently, the state had decided to introduce bungee jumping sports at Singsore bridge in West Sikkim and identified a number of caves as tourist destinations to promote adventure tourism in the state.

UNI