Construction on the VND4.4 trillion (US$209.5 million) Fansipan-Sapa cable car system was started last Saturday.— VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Ha

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— Construction on the VND4.4 trillion (US$209.5 million) Fansipan-Sapa cable car system was started last Saturday.

The complex three-rope cable car system, or 3S Cable Car is a cable car system that was developed by the Swiss company Roll transport systems to unite the benefits of a gondola with those of a reversible cable car system.

Once completed, it will bring commuters from Lao Cai Province's Sa Pa town to the peak of Fansipan Mountain. When put into operation in 2015, the cable cars will shorten a climb that currently requires a two-day trek to a mere 15-minute ride. It is designed to carry a maximum of 2,000 people per hour. Each car holds 35 passengers.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai outlined his vision of a cable car system servicing the Fansipan-Sa Pa tourism centre. He believes Sapa is sure to attract even more domestic and international visitors. Hai urged investors and contractors to minimise the project's impacts on the local environment and landscape.

The project was invested by the Ba Na Cable Car Service's Fansipan-Sa Pa Cable Car Service JSC, member of Sun Group. Constructor is Doppelmayr Group.

At the ceremony, Andrea Doppelmayr, customer relation director, said it was the first ever 3S cable of its kind in all of Asia, emphasising that it was a three-rope system that broke not just one, but two world records as "the longest detachable ropeway system that has ever been built, and the highest difference in elevation".

Passengers on the 3S Fansipan would also travel an incredible total length of more than 7,000 meters and climb more than 1400 meters from the bottom to top station, she added.

Fansipan is a mountain in Vietnam, and the highest in Indochina (comprising Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia), at 3,143 meters (10,312 ft). It is located in the Lao Cai province of Northwest Vietnam, 9 km southwest of Sa Pa Township in the Hoang Lien Son mountain range. Fansipan is dubbed "the Roof of Indochina".— File Photos

According to Doppelmayr, the characteristics of this system would make no other ropeway on earth compete so far.

Up to now, there are nearly 1 million tourists visiting Lao Cai each year. One third of them are foreign visitors.— VNS