Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The proposed cable car line from Nanu Oya to Nuwara Eliya has been halted as a certain Forest Department official was refusing to grant permission to release 150 perches on the Kikiliyamana mountain without any reason, a government MP revealed today.

Parliamentarian Madura Vithanage told Parliament that the project is unable to be implemented due to this reason even though two Cabinet papers have been presented on the matter in 2018 and 2021.

The MP said the particular Forest Department official has continued to refuse permission to release the required plot of land citing that it is a highly sensitive zone. 

“I have noticed that telephone towers have been set up in the mountain after clearing a vast area of the forest cover,” he said.

He said he studied the project report of the company and realised that the project had been prepared properly so as to protect the environment as well.

He said the project is an investment of USD 55 million and that halting such investments is a huge loss to the country. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)