First French cabins brought for Almaty gondola cableway

A bilateral agreement has been signed between the Mayor's Office of Almaty and Montagne Association cluster in the framework of President Francois Hollande’s visit to Kazakhstan, a Tengrinews correspondent reports.

"We agreed that the French association would help us and participate in the designing and construction of Kok Zhailau mountain skiing resort. The company POMA, the manufacturer of the elevators, is a member of this association. The cabins will be installed at the Kok Tobe (a hill in Almaty) cableway before the summer of 2015,” the head of the Almaty Department of Tourism Bakytzshan Zholamanov said.

"We have signed an agreement for delivery and installation of the equipment. The first two cabins have been delivered already. Before the middle of the year the remaining cabins will be installed," Zholamanov promissed.

He did not disclose the cost of the deal, calling it a commercial secret.

The length of the new gondola cableway will make 1,727 meters. At the speed of 6.2 meters per second the distance will be covered by cable cars in 6 minutes. Each cabin will have ten comfortable seats. The maximum elevation above the ground will be approximately 80 meters.

The last time the cableway was upgraded nine years ago. According to the directorate of Koktobe, it still meets the technical requirements, but has become somewhat obsolete.

The Mayor of Almaty Akhmetzhan Yesimov reminded that the city of Almaty had favorable conditions for the development of mountain tourism. Almaty is located 20 minutes drive for the mountains.

"We are working closely with French companies, our relations are dynamically developing. There are 16 Kazakh-French companies and 37 companies with French participation," Yesimov said.

Reporting by Azhar Ashirova, writing by Dinara Urazova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina