A zip-line, a monorail and a hanging bridge will be put in place within the Waterfalls area to make the attraction more accessible to the tourists.
According to Chris Kay, Director/Regional President of Palau Leisure Group, Inc., Zip-lines make use of human gravity and do not use any motor. “A harness for safety is attached to the zip. You just ride all the way down to the landing area.”
Three zip-line courses will be put up: One 340 meter, one 314 meter and one 240 meter. The height will be approximately 20 to 50 meters. According to Kay, the whole project, including the monorail, will cost about $2 million.
Kay said all the materials are already in Palau. “We ordered the cable and other tools from Korea. We’re only waiting for the engineers to come. By the end of this month they’ll be here to do the construction survey.” He added that they already conducted survey for the design. And they need one more week survey for the construction. And after two weeks, construction will start.
Kay’s company is funding the project. The company is collaborating with the State government of Ngardamu. “We’re leasing the land and we get all the support from the government.” Kay said the project also aims to increase the employment opportunities for the people in Palau.
“We are partners, we’re not just investors.” Kay said. The company is FIB registered, and it is their first project venture in Palau.
Asked how the project came to be, Kay said he was in Palau three years ago for other business issue. He visited the Taki Waterfalls and “saw the potentiality of the project.”
“Right after, we contacted the governor and after long process we were able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding,” Kay explained. In October last year, after long discussions and negotiations, Kay said they came up with the agreement. “And we try to do our best to expedite the whole process,” he said. They got the necessary permits, and now they are just waiting for their engineers to start the construction.
“We saw the potentiality of the waterfalls. There are currently 10,000 visitors a year, not including the Korean tourists,” Kay said. “I know not all of them will use our attraction, but we are doing strong marketing for our Korean tourists, as well as with the Japanese, Taiwanese and western tourists.”
The target completion is within three months, but Kay said, they have to consider the weather condition in Palau. So they maximum construction time will be five months. “We need to have some buffer,” Kay said. “But our target is really towards the end of this year to start full operation.”
“The completion will depend on the weather, the weather is very unpredictable,” Ngardmau Gov. Akiko Sugiyama, said in an interview.
“I’m very happy,” the governor said about the project. “I can’t sleep, I’m very excited. I wish we can finish this at the end of this year.” She said the project is going to be one of the biggest attractions in Palau. “If we are receiving 100 tourists a week, it will be doubled or tripled.”
A monorail will also be constructed simultaneous with the zip-line.
Kay said, they found out that it’s difficult for a lot of people to go up from the waterfall area. There are also parts that are muddy. “So we conducted a survey, interviewed tourists. We found out that one of the reasons why they don’t go down to the Waterfalls is they don’t want to step on muddy areas. So we came up with the idea of the monorail. You can go down via the ZipSky, and go up via the monorail.”
According to Gov. Sugiyama, the monorail will also be helpful especially for old people who can’t go down the waterfall area. “With this monorail, they will be able to enjoy the view better.”
Kay said the whole project will be eco-friendly since they are not going to cut many trees during the construction. “We will use the trees to hang the zip. For the monorail it requires very minimal space, so we don’t need to cut all the trees to make the path. The courses are designed to work around the existing trails.”
A hanging bridge is also at present under construction, which will connect one side of the river to the other. The 55-feet long and 4-feet wide hanging bridge worth $20,000 is also targeted to be finished in three months.
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