Koktobe cableway opening postponed

New Koktobe gondola cableway will be opened later than promised, Tengrinews reports citing the official response of Almaty Akimat's Tourism Department.

The dismantling of the old cableway began in the fall of 2014 and full renovation will be completed in July 2015 and not in June, as was initially announced.

The equipment for the new Koktobe cableway was delivered from France, including 17 brightly colored gondolas.

The cableway was last renovated nine years ago. According to the management of Koktobe park, it is considered obsolete, although it meets the technical requirements. Nothing is known of the budget since the management of the park said that the works were funded out of private investment.

"The old cableway has been completely dismantled, the installation process is underway. Russian company Snowprom Service that has ample experience in construction of cableways in the post soviet space started installing the new faster eight-spot cableway in April. The lower station and the supports number 1, 2, 3 and 4 (out of the total of six support pillars) have already been installed,” the park's management said.

The length of the gondola road is 1727 meters. The new cable cars will be covering the distance in six minutes. During this time, the visitors will get a magnificent view of the city and the new eastern bypass road. The maximum height above the ground is 80 meters, speed is 6.2 meters per second, and the height difference between the upper and lower stations is 250 meters.

According to some sources the opening of the cableway to Koktobe may be visited by Gerard Depardieu, but the information has not been confirmed yet.

Reporting by Roza Yessenkulova, writing by Dinara Urazova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina