Rangunia eco park: Tk 170m cable car lies in ruins for two years

Seven cabins remain at the site. The glass on all of them has been shattered and most of the equipment inside is missing.Sowrav DasAt the entrance to the park lies the first cable car station on the right. The ticket counter here would once be crowded with visitors. After passing through the reception room, they would board the cabins to travel nearly 1,200 meters over the hills to the other end, enjoying the scenic view of the forest and reservoir.

The station is now covered with signs of vandalism. The reception room, ticket counter, control room, toilets and generator room are all damaged. Seven cabins lie abandoned there, all with shattered glass. Most of the machinery inside is missing.

This is the current state of the Aviary and Eco Park in Rangunia, Chattogram. The cable car, one of the park’s main attractions, was built at a cost of about Tk 176.7 million. It was known as the longest government-operated cable car in the country.

Each cable car cabin was enclosed with glass. Visitors could sit inside and enjoy the beauty of the hills, forest, and reservoir from above.Sowrav DasThe park has remained closed since it was vandalised and looted in August 2024. More than two years have passed but repairs have yet to begin. The Forest Department has also not received any allocation for the work.

During a visit to the site on 16 September, the rooms at the first station were found empty. Broken glass, rubbish and pieces of metal were scattered across the floors. Some heavy metal machinery was also lying there, with several of its parts damaged.

After walking about 2.5 kilometres along a hilly path from the first station, the second station was reached at around 1pm. It had the same scenario. Five more damaged cabins lay nearby. Two pieces of heavy machinery were inside the control room but neither was in usable condition.

Park employees said looters could not take away the cabins and heavy equipment because of their weight. Instead, they vandalised and abandoned them. According to them, the park was vandalised and looted for three consecutive days from 5 to 7 August 2024. Various pieces of equipment were taken away in trucks.

The chairs for visitors have been broken and tossed around here and there.Sowrav DasThe cable car travelled about 2.4 kilometres on its round trip. At some points, it operated about 100 feet above the ground. From the cabins, visitors could see the hills, forest and water bodies below.

A cable car is a type of transport that moves above the ground using cables. Cabins suspended from strong cables travel from one station to another. Besides being used for transportation in hilly areas, cable cars are also a tourist attraction in many countries around the world.

The first cable car at a government tourist destination in Bangladesh was launched at the Meghla Tourist Complex in Bandarban. Opened in November 2010, the cable car has a round-trip route of about 1,600 feet, or 488 metres. By comparison, the route of the Rangunia cable car was nearly five times longer.

Asked why the cable car had not been repaired, Mihir Kumar Dey, conservator of forests for the Chattogram region, told Prothom Alo that repairing it would be extremely expensive. An experienced technical team from abroad would first have to be brought in to assess the damage. The necessary spare parts would then have to be imported. However, the process has not moved forward due to a lack of funds.

The Forest Department assessed the damage after the vandalism. According to its report, the then Sheikh Russell Aviary and Eco Park was vandalised and looted in August 2024. Offices, storerooms, control rooms, cottages, restaurants and bird habitats were damaged.

Of all, the cable car suffered the most damage. Damage to the lower station and its control room was estimated at about Tk 18 million. Various electrical and mechanical components, including the motor, brakes and circuit boards were destroyed or looted.

Several macaws had been brought to the park. Attackers took away some of them during the looting. A few birds have survived under the care of the Forest Department.Sowrav DasThe upper station and its control room suffered another Tk 12 million in damage. In total, damage to the two cable car stations and the control system was estimated at about Tk 30 million.

The total damage across the park was estimated at Tk 51.67 million.

The park is located in the Dakshin Nishchintapur area, beside the hills along the Chattogram-Kaptai highway, about 35 kilometres from Chattogram city. It covers about 210 hectares or 520 acres.

The park was developed in the first phase at a cost of Tk 400.431 million under an initiative of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. It was inaugurated on 11 November 2013. Alongside habitats for local and foreign birds, cages and water bodies, various facilities for tourists were built.

One of the major structures under the project was the cable car. Construction began in 2012 and it was inaugurated on 4 December 2014. A Kolkata-based company installed the cable car. Local technical workers received operation and maintenance training from engineers of the company.

The cable car was designed to operate up to 20 cabins, although there were 12 cabins. Each cabin could accommodate six adult passengers.

Rangunia’s Aviary and Eco Park from a bird’s-eye view.Sowrav DasMohammad Saeed Saqlain, former sub-assistant engineer (mechanical) of the park construction project, was responsible for overseeing the cable car. He told Prothom Alo that it was the longest government-operated cable car in Bangladesh, and that no other government park had a cable car of this length. It was built with a capacity to operate up to 20 cabins.

According to people associated with the park, around 400 to 700 visitors would normally ride the cable car each day when it was operational. On holidays and during festivals, the number would exceed 1,000. A round-trip ticket cost Tk 230 for adults and Tk 115 for children aged 5 to 12.

However, the cable car did not remain operational for long after its inauguration. Just two months after it opened, soil eroded from the base of a pillar at the upper station. It was closed to tourists as a safety precaution.

An initiative was then taken to construct a retaining wall at a cost of Tk 12.5 million to protect the pillar. Although the cable car was closed to tourists, it was reportedly operated on a trial basis twice a week to keep the equipment and cabins functional, the engineer responsible for the cable car told Prothom Alo at the time.

The cable car was later reopened to visitors, but it was shut down again in 2021 due to a mechanical fault. After repairs, it resumed operations on 30 September 2023, nearly two years later. It remained operational for about 11 months before being shut down again following the vandalism and looting in August 2024.

Mohammad Abdul Jabbar, the park’s officer-in-charge, said visitor numbers increased when the cable car was operational. Its closure has reduced the park’s attraction, he said.

Meanwhile, the Forest Department undertook a second-phase project to further expand the park. In 2018, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project with an estimated cost of Tk 1.2551 billion. It included plans to build bird habitats, sheds for tourists, infrastructure around the lake, security posts and a water supply system, among other facilities. There was also a plan to extend the cable car route. The Forest Department later abandoned that plan.

Humam Quader Chowdhury, the MP from Rangunia, has said steps will be taken to restart the cable car, which has remained out of operation for more than two years. He told Prothom Alo that allegations of corruption had been raised over the park’s development work in the past. However, all work would now be implemented through a transparent process, he said. The park would also be modernised, while its main attraction—the cable car—would be repaired, he added.