Looks like the ghiring (the ropeway) was pretty useful when we didn’t have a wider network of roads. I think they should be revived. This from RopewayNepal:
In its glory days, the 42km Hetauda-Kathmandu cargo ropeway/ghiring used to run 10 hours and transport 22 tons of goods every day. The construction of Highways and cheaper fuels for the vehicles in those days [and mismanagement of government people] caused the ropeway to lose its charm and it stopped its operation in 1994. It did serve the valley for the last time by transporting vegetables and other food products when the flood washed away both part of the Tribhuwan and Prithivi Highway in 1993 AD.
Today, due to the skyrocketed fuel prices and because of the relatively unstable terrain of the area, many study shows that transport of goods through rope-way is cost effective. But the old Hetauda-Kathmandu rope-ways have been lost beyond repairs and it’s old towers left to rust in peace. We can still see the reminiscences of the rope-way in various parts of Kathmandu including Kuleswor area.
If you are interested in the history, this from ropewaycablecar.com:
“In 1922 Shree Tin Maharaj Chandra Shamsher Rana started building a 22km long cargo Ropeway from Dhorsing-chisapnai-chandragiri hills passing into the Kathmandu. In 1964, this system was further improved and extended to 42 kilometer to Hetauda with the financial and technical assistance of the United State Agency for international Development (USAID). With the introduction of the Foreign Aids to Nepal, policy [towards ropeway] changed. In Fifth Five-Year Plan road construction enjoyed high priority. The Donors were in impression that the roads are the back bone of the development. In its ‘Nepal Country Report’ of 1976, the world bank came to a conclusion that construction and maintenance of roads in rugged mountainous country was too costly and other means of transport should be found. However today all the past lessons have totally been forgotten and road building is booming despite high cost and the damage they cause to the fragile mountain environment.”
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Dinesh Wagle on Nepali Society 
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