BANDUNG. Bandung municipality will start construction of an 8 million euro (US$9 million) cable car prototype project in November, a top official of the construction company said on Thursday.

The project, intended primarily for tourists’ transportation, will be developed by private company PT Aditya Dharmaputra Persada Development supported by Austrian-based Doppelmayr Garaventa Group, which has 175 years of experience in manufacturing cable cars, chairlifts and gondola. Dopplemayr, a market leader in ropeway engineering, has executed 14,600 such projects in 89 countries according to its website.

"The ground-breaking is next month," said Sandjaya Susilo, chief executive officer of PT Aditya, after a meeting with Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil as reported by kompas.com.

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Sandjaja said the prototype would span 850 meters connecting Bandung's iconic tourism destinations Dago Station and Cihampelas, via Babakan Siliwangi Hill. The prototype will have 60 cabins with a capacity of 2400 people every hour.

"The […] route will only take three minutes," he said.

The cable car, suspended 20 meters above the road, will operate on one lattice tower platform due to the short distance.

The prototype will be the first stage of Bandung municipality’s plan for a cable car running from Bandung Station all the way to Ledeng in North Bandung.

"If this project is successful, it will be expanded to run from Bandung train station to Ledeng, passing Cicendo, Cihampelas, Sukajadi and Paris Van Java Mall," Sandjaya said.