The Kolašin local administration started the process of creating technical documentation for the gondola project that would connect the town with the ski resorts on Bjelasica. The precise length of the future air route will be known after the conceptual solution, but, as the vice president of the Municipality says Vasilije Ivanovic, it will certainly be higher than 10 kilometers.
The route, he explains, would start in the suburban settlement of Breza, lead to the railway station, then through Ćirilovac to Ključ, and end at the location where the Kolašin ski resorts are located. Ivanovic explains that the highest elevation of the cable car would be almost 1.900 meters above sea level.
"We started collecting technical documentation for designing the gondola. By the end of the year, I hope, the drafting of the technical documentation will be completed, and that we will next apply in the capital budget for those projects. It is clear that this is a multi-year state capital project, for which we expect the support of the Government", the vice-president of the Municipality told "Vijesti".
Ivanović sees the justification of such a project, which would certainly cost several tens of millions of euros, in the possibility of creating the conditions for "Kolašin to have 365 days of tourist offers". In addition, he explains, traffic on the road to the ski resorts would be relieved, because that road is now part of the regional road from Kolašin to Beran, through the Klisura tunnel.
"If that project were realized, the gondola would be one of the most famous in this part of Europe. I hope that the importance of our idea will be recognized by the Government. In addition to being practical, the gondola would provide those who use it with a unique experience of a panoramic ride. Half of Montenegro can be seen from the Ključ Pass, and it is not without significance that the project would divert traffic from the city to the ski resort," Ivanović explains.
The possible construction of a cable car that would connect the center of Kolašin with the ski resort Kolašin 1450 was also left in the draft Amendments and Supplements of the Spatial-Urban Plan (ID PUP), whose adoption is still awaited. That document foresees two variants of the route of the cable car. The first one is the one Ivanović is talking about, while the second one is shorter, and from Kolašno, via the railway station, it leads to a private ski resort.
The first variant includes five stations, and the initial one would be near the Breza barracks with parking space for around 600 vehicles. According to the first variant, there would be parking for about 70 vehicles at the intermediate station near the Railway Station. The second intermediate station would be at Smrcje and, as explained in the ID PUP draft, this could be the first phase of the cable car, which connects the future tourist resort, town and ski resort.
"The stop of the cable car would be at a distance of about 200 meters from the Ćirilovac monastery. Anyone who takes the cable car to this location, or walks in the summer, can return to Kolašin or climb to the top of Ključ, to the small chapel and hut, from where there is a fantastic view. The Jezerine 1450 stop is a turning station. The highest point of the cable car, in variant 2, would be at the Ključ pass at 1.880 meters above sea level, to the left of the mountain hut and the chapel on Ključ, which can be very attractive," says the ID PUP draft.
It was explained that in a distance of only 800 meters, the gondola would overcome an ascent of 300 meters above sea level, and after that ascent, it would descend sharply towards Jezerine with the same drop. The capacity of the cable car, according to that idea, would be 2.000 passengers per hour. The total journey from Breza to the ski resort, the document says, would take 30 minutes at a speed of six meters per second.
The plan recommends the creation of a Feasibility Study that would analyze all proposed variant solutions and show which variant solution is the most favorable.
During the public discussion, part of the participants pointed out the necessity of moving the gondola turning point from the position of the private Ski-center Kolašin 1450 to the state-owned Kolašin 1600, which, as they reasoned, would "enable ease of communication for future skiers".
Those suggestions became an integral part of the final version of the PUP÷ amendments, so the gondola route will end at the state ski resort, claims Ivanović.
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