Madeira SkyPark Adventure has issued a statement saying that the Curral das Freiras cable car will be the second longest route in the world.
Although the project is currently suspended, the group states that “with 3070 meters of route and a difference in altitude of 230 meters, a ride duration time of 6m30s, a Nature Interpretation Centre and an Adventure Park, where visitors will find a Zip Line of 2300 euros, the largest in Europe (and the second in the world) the project will be a major feat of engineering and tourism for the area.”
Nuno Freiras, CEO of Madeira SkyPark Adventure, revealed that the private investment will amount to 47 million euros: and taking into account the payment of concession rents as well as the tax revenue expected during its duration, the Madeira Region “will have economic benefits of more than 400 million euros.”
Madeira SkyPark Adventure says that it will create, “right from the start, 40 direct jobs (2.6%), in addition to the many indirect ones, encouraging local entrepreneurship and fostering the settlement of the population, in a locality that currently has about 1500 inhabitants. The project assumes shows our strong commitment to the community, planning to promote local culture and heritage and develop infrastructure from the point of view of water and energy, with the reinforcement of capacity in the respective area.”
From an environmental point of view, “the project will be developed according to the best international ESG (environmental, social and governance) practices and policies, namely those defined by the World Bank, and is framed by an environmental impact study, which was in public consultation and concluded that there were no associated impacts. No species of risk has been detected in the area where the cable car is located and there is no impact on the species of nocturnal ethology, since the activity of the cable car will only be daytime.”
The project involves a set of two cable cars, both with two cabins in a shuttle system: one connecting the centre of Curral das Freiras to Miradouros do Paredão – a route of 1012 meters long and a difference in altitude of 789 meters; and a second cable car will connect the Paredão Viewpoint to Boca da Corrida, covers a distance of 3070 meters and a difference in altitude of 230 meters. This will be the cable car with the second longest suspended span in the world, only surpassed by the Zugspitz cable car in Germany, built by Doppelmayr, which is also the company responsible for the execution of the Curral das Freiras cable car project.
Finally, the company points out that in Boca da Corrida there will be the Nature Interpretation Centre, which will be implemented in partnership with the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Environment, and an Adventure Park for radical activities, which will be complemented with a Zip Line (slide), on a 2300-meter route to Curral das Freiras, which will be the longest in Europe and the second longest in the world, only surpassed by the existing one in the Emirates.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
