Visitors to the London Olympics in 2012 could be able to cross the River Thames using the city’s first ever cable car, authorities said on Sunday.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said he had been inspired by cable cars in New York, Singapore, Barcelona and other world cities.
The £25 million project would link two Olympic venues on either side of the river. It would take five minutes to cross the river and would carry up to 2,500 passengers each hour on a stretch of the Thames that has road tunnels, but no bridges.
“A cable car spanning the majestic Thames would not only provide a unique and pioneering addition to London’s skyline, but also offer a serene and joyful journey across the river,” Mr Johnson said in a statement.
The privately-funded project would link the 02 arena, which hosts concerts and sporting events on the south bank, with the ExCeL conference centre on the site of the capital’s old docks. The mayor said the public will be asked about the idea until August 2, with a planning application due later this year. If app-roved, the cable car should be open in time for the 2012 Olympics.
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Lockerbie bomber may survive 10 yrs
London, July 4: The Lockerbie bomber could survive for 10 years or longer, according to the cancer specialist who said in 2009 he would be dead within three months of his release, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi for the Libyan authorities almost a year ago, told the Sunday Times it was “embarrassing” that he had outlived his three-month prognosis.
The Scottish government provoked outrage from the United States when it released Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi from prison in August 2009 on compassionate grounds because he is suffering from terminal cancer. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi is the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a US Pan Am jumbo jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, which left 270 people dead.
—AFP