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Brazil judge blocks Sugarloaf Mountain zipline

Vanessa Buschschlüter
Emin Sansar/Anadolu via Getty Images A view of Sugar Loaf cable car at Guanabara Bay in November 2024. The steep rocky mountain can be seen against the blue of the bay. At the top of the mountain, the cable car station is visible. Cables connect it with Morro da Urca, from which the photo is taken. A cable car can be seen suspended halfway between the two. Emin Sansar/Anadolu via Getty Images
A cable car has been linking Morro da Urca and Sugarloaf Mountain since 1912. The zipwire was planned to run parallel to it.

A judge in Brazil has blocked a project to build a zipline connecting the famous Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro to a nearby hill, Morro da Urca.

The attraction's developer said it would allow visitors to descend from Sugarloaf Mountain at speeds of almost 100km/h (62mph) via four ziplines covering a distance of 755m (0.47 miles).

The project - which started four years ago - had triggered protests from locals and environmentalists, who argued that the construction work was causing irreparable damage to the Unesco World Heritage Site.

The developer is expected to appeal against the decision.

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images A number of people of different ages, some of them holding placards and signs, clap during a protest held at the foot of Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro in March 2023. One sign reads in Portuguese "No to the zipwire" while another reads "A paradise which can't become a private enterprise".CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images
Locals and environmentalists organised protests against the project

Gricel Osorio Hor-Meyll, one of the activists who had led the campaign against the zipline told AFP news agency that the ruling was "a huge victory".

Those opposed to the attraction argued that in order to build the platforms needed to access the zipline, the rock on top of Sugarloaf Mountain would have to be excavated.

The company which manages the site said that excavation would be kept to a minimum by using areas with existing construction.

The project had the approval of both Rio City Council and the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN).

As part of Tuesday's ruling, the judge ordered that IPHAN and the project's developer pay 30m reals ($5.77m, £4.35m) in damages, stressing the "inestimable value of Sugarloaf Mountain, not only for Brazilians but for people worldwide".

The project has been at the centre of a legal battle for years and construction had been halted on a number of occasions as the company argued its case in court.

In January, construction work restarted after the high court had ruled that stopping would cause more damage than finishing the project at this late stage.

It added that the project was 95% completed.

That decision has now been overturned by Tuesday's ruling.

However, the legal saga is likely to continue with the company behind the project expected to lodge an appeal.