Dispute in Rio de Janeiro: With the zip line down the Sugar Loaf?

Descending Sugar Loaf Mountain at 100 km/h – that’s what the planners of a zip line that is to be built on Rio’s protected landmark promise. Residents protest against it, but they don’t have many supporters.

“Fora Tirolesa, Fora Tirolesa!” – “Off with the zip line,” shout the 200 or so people who have gathered at the foot of the Sugar Loaf – because they do not want the world-famous humped hill, symbol of Rio de Janeiro and part of a landscape that is part of the World Heritage, to be disfigured becomes. Andre Ilha is a climber and local resident – he is outraged:

The Sugar Loaf will be visited even more than it already is. You don’t need a zip line, you already have the cable car. “We think this idea is terrible.”

Four rope slides should lead down

The idea is as follows: Under the current visitor platform with the cable car, another one is to be built. From there, four rope slides are to be stretched from a height of around 400 meters to the secondary summit, which is around 150 meters lower. Around 100 daring people could dash from one side to the other per hour – at speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour.

Maria Arlinda de Castro fears a catastrophe for the sensitive ecosystem and the local residents: “We already have the gondolas. This zipline and the screaming of the people will scare us all. It will be chaos.”

Planners promise an incomparable experience

Pure adrenaline with a breathtaking view, that’s how designer Guto Indio da Costa sees it. He is standing in front of his Power Point presentation in a cool conference room not far from Sugar Loaf and gets into raptures as he talks: “The construction of the slide is very innovative: the four steel cables are very smooth and you can’t see them from a distance.”

They wouldn’t make any noise, da Costa promises. “And the view of the sea, the gentle breeze, the sound of the wind, the singing birds – all this is much closer and makes the trip an incomparable experience.”

The first drilling took place without a permit

Da Costa will be speaking at the offices of Bondinho, the company that runs the park around Sugarloaf Mountain. Its managing director Sandro Ferndandes also defends the controversial project: “We had an expert opinion obtained that says that the interference with nature is minimal. The rock is not damaged. I think it’s important to mention that.”

But the first drilling – already at the beginning of March – took place without the appropriate permit. The local authority got wind of it and stopped the construction work. In the meantime, however, the authorities and operators have come to an agreement, and things are moving forward.

“Who’s the use of all this?”

Resident Claudio de Castro Barbosa is stunned: “The mountain is listed. The Sugar Loaf has been recognized by UNESCO. The rock is so sensitive. How can you want to destroy it now?” All of this should not be a private amusement park. Who does that benefit in the end?

The petition against the construction project in the city of 6.7 million people was signed by only around 15,000 people. Local media hardly reports about it, and many residents still don’t know anything about the project, the demonstrators fear. The new attraction is scheduled to open in the fall.