KATHMANDU, June 30: As a new tourist destination in the valley, the SkyWalk Tower has been constructed with an investment of around Rs 2 billion. The tower has been opened to the public since Thursday. This tower was built with private investment.
Executive chairman of Wonders Nepal, the company that has built the tower, Engineer Aakarshan Pokhrel, said that the tower was built with the aim of establishing adventure tourism in Kathmandu. He said that the desire to create something unique in nature, which no one has seen before, experienced and believed in Nepal, inspired him to build the SkyWalk Tower.
Pokharel said that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it took longer than planned to build the tower. He said, “We only got about two years to carry out the construction work. Our work was stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic, otherwise it would have been completed much earlier.”
The SkyWalk Point has a 'space' of 5,000 square feet. From the point of view of capacity, although there is a place that can accommodate a thousand people at a time, it will be crowded and disorganized, but now it is planned to accommodate only 500 people.
Pokharel said, "It was fun to watch the reactions of people walking on the sky glass walk - surprised and frightened - in the videos on social media," Pokharel said, "The more people watched the video, the more it attracted them, then the idea to create something similar in Nepal came to us, and we started this Sky Glass Walk Project.”
According to Pokharel, when people went to visit China, we could see them laughing and enjoying themselves in the video of walking on the Sky Walk. I also enjoyed watching the different reactions of people walking on the skywalk. This idea took shape only in the year 2080 BS.
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The Sky Glass Walk Tower, which was started in 2076 BS and completed in 2080 BS, is unique to most people in Nepal. The scenes that went viral on social media after visiting China's Glass Tower can be repeated here.
Regarding the construction of the project, Pokharel said, "I had planned to build the SkyWalk back in 2075 BS while I was in America. When I met with my friends Loknath Adhikari and Vishnu Kaapri, they too encouraged me in this plan. This plan moved forward with our joint efforts after returning to Nepal.”
Engineer Pokharel says, “Our group, which was stuck for some time in choosing the place to build the tower, decided that Kamaladi, the heart of Kathmandu city, was the best from every point of view.” “After it was decided that Kamaladi is the most suitable place from many points of view, including transportation, since I am an engineer, I proceeded to design the conceptual design of the tower.”
He said, "I have prepared the figure that portrays how it should look." The structural design was made by the Recall Company. Engineer Kiran Aacharya designed the structural design of the tower.” He also said that the peer review of the tower was conducted by an American professor.
FE 240 and 350 high grade steels are used in the tower, these steels are imported from India. Steel manufactured to British Standard has been used in the tower. Regarding the glass used in the tower, Pokharel said that a group including Pokharel had gone to India to prepare it in the design they needed and brought it to Nepal.
Pokharel said that the safety of the materials used in the tower was constructed and designed with great attention. We can guarantee high security for the tourists coming here. In case if the cube itself is broken, or if a big stone is thrown to break the glass, it is another matter, otherwise the guests who come here should not have any doubts about the security," Pokharel said.
The height of the tower is 78.5 meters. The leaded section is 65 meters, which is placed at the top of the tower. Below that is a 360 degree view restaurant and below that is the club. Below the club is the lobby. In that lobby the elevator that goes down stops.
The elevator with high speed capacity can carry 24 people at a time. The 78.5 meter high tower is reached in 30 seconds. There are 2 elevators and alternatively 2 stairs. After getting off the elevator, one should walk two floors to reach the Sky Walk Point. Pokharel said that after reaching the top, you will feel like you are walking in the sky and you can see the entire city of Kathmandu by standing on the glass.
If you want to climb the tower, you have to buy a ticket, but if you are interested in sitting down and watching, you don't have to pay any fee to go to the place where the tower is. The tower can be viewed by sitting at any 'foot outlet' below the tower. After paying a fee of Rs 1000, all nationals and foreigners can spend half an hour at the sky walk point.
After reaching the height of the tower, arrangements have been made to provide first aid if anyone has health problems. The tower is open seven days a week. Pokharel said that although it is currently open from 8AM to 8PM, it will open 24 hours after some time. He said that according to the capacity, 6,000 people can be transported in 1 day, but now it is expected that up to 1,000 people will come in a day.
Informing about the new things, technology transfer, new use of steel structure in high rise, he said that the tower, with an investment of Rs 2 billion was built for commercial purpose. Another important aspect of the construction of the tower is to create a hub for adventure tourism in the city of Kathmandu, said Pokharel.
Pokharel claims that the SkyWalk Tower will be a good destination for people who want to go for entertainment in Kathmandu.
This is the first SkyWalk Tower built in Nepal. Pokharel said that employment of 200 people will be ensured in the Sky Walk Tower. Hundreds of people will get employment in food stalls, restaurants, clubs. He believes that the SkyWalk Tower has added a new dimension to adventure tourism in the country.
