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The Cable Car of
Merida is state property of Venezuela
and as an official operation it is
asigned to the ministry of tourism which has as
its responsibility the operation, supervision,
promotion and regulation of tourist activities
in the country.
The Cable Car of Merida is the fruit of a
project created by andinistas from merida
memebrs of the now extinct Andino Venezolano
Club, which in 1952 proposed the facilitation of
a system allowing tourists to ascend the
Sierra Nevada
of Merida.
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The idea was approved by the
national governmentand in 1955 geographic
studies were made which aided the project design
and facilitated its immediate construction. In
December of 1956 they began to carve the route
towards the peaks. ON
November 8th, 1957, the
first car of the transport system, arrived at
La Aguada, overcoming the natural barrier
of the andes snow forests.
Although the inauguration was planned between
the two events for reason of the 400 year
clebration of the city, it was delayed because
of the death of Pope Pius 12th.
By the middle of 1958,
the Teleferico was operating at 50% of its goal.
The Teleferico,
in its system principal (destined
a service touristic),
was constructed in France by 25 different
companies, contracted by the world famous
company Applevage,
specialists in cable cars.
Other foreign companies provided different works:
la Egecca was in charge of construction
at the site. La Egecom, mounted
the mettalic structures. La
Sucre-Barret also played an important
role in the constrction.
The Teleferico
was under the charge, in its first three trams,
of the German company Heckel
and in its final section by the Swiss company
Habbeger
The director of the project
was the French specialist
Maurice Comte. Along with him,
worked professional veterans like the Italian
Giovanni Rizzi and the Swiss
Raymond Ruffieux. The majority of
laborers where Venezuelan workers from the higgh
mountain villages of the Merida andes.
Amongst the technicians and engineers where a
conglomeration of nationalities:
Spaniards, Italians, French, Germans, Poles,
Portugese, Yugoslavs, Colombians, Ecuatorians,
Argentinians, Haitians and Venezuelans.
Everyone gave thier all to raise this grand
engineering marvel in the Northern Andes of
South America.
The total Teleferico was
placed into service in march of 1960. The first
tarrif was 16 Bolivares for adults, 9 for
students and 5 for children. |
