A bit of a stretch? A 24km cable car ride going to Southport, The Spit, South Stradbroke Island and Sanctuary Cove could be built before 2018

A PROPOSAL to build a $220 million cable car ride from Southport to Sanctuary Cove via The Spit and South Stradbroke Island will be put to the State Government.

The Skylinq experience would start at Southport in very close proximity to the light rail network.

A PROPOSAL to build a $220 million cable car ride from Southport to Sanctuary Cove via The Spit and South Stradbroke Island will be put to the State Government.

The 24km project would span the Seaway and Broadwater and future stages could extend south to Surfers Paradise and north to Coomera.

Skylinq, the company behind the ambitious proposal, claims to have full funding from UK financiers and hopes to have the cableway built before the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The Gold Coast City Council has been consulted about the plan, but much of the route is over State Government land.

Project co-ordinator Russell Cousins said the project had been in the pipeline for two years and the group had been seeking the involvement of multiple investors. However, a single UK group had since agreed to provide 100 per cent of the funding. He said German company the Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group - the largest gondola construction company in the world - would build the gondolas and cable support towers.

Asked if the cables might prevent ships and yachts entering the Seaway, Mr Cousins said: "It would be significantly high.

"They (Doppelmayr/Garaventa) are waiting to do a study which will show the distance between poles and how high it could go.

"They have built the ones in London and Singapore ... Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group builds the largest gondolas in the world.''

The plan calls for nine cable car stations with the first near a light rail station in Southport. Other stations would be located at Marina Mirage, the surf beach on Stradbroke Island and Couran Cove. Future stages could extend along the beachfront to Surfers Paradise and north from Sanctuary Cove to Coomera.

Each gondola would carry eight people and would solve some of the Spit traffic problems, said Mr Cousins.

"This will be a major project and it will go to the State Government's major projects department,'' he said.

Mr Cousins said he expected it would take at least 13 months for all approvals to be secured and hoped the cable car would be running six months before the Games in 2018. However, previous attempts to build cableways in the Gold Coast Hinterland have been rejected following strong opposition from environmental groups.

The plans were fought widely by local action groups when they were initiated by previous councils, and were put in the spotlight again when former mayor Ron Clarke brought them upbefore the last election.

The cableway plans have since been highlighted in a Gold Coast Tourism report as potential new infrastructure to lure visitors to the Coast.

News of another major project planned for the Spit is also unlikely to sit well with those campaigning against plans for a cruise ship terminal and major resort development in the popular recreation area.

Cable cars that never got off ground

1998 - 11.6km, $50 million, Hinze Dam to Springbrook National Parkwas led by former mayor Ray Stevens and Terry Morris.

2002 - Businessman Billy James announced a 12km, $75 million, cable car Pimpama to North North Tamborine, with connections through the national park and forest reserve.

2008 - Mr James tries again with the northern Gold Coast cableway in 2009, a proposed 4.5km, Coomera to Darlington Range.

2010 - 8.8km, which was expected to cost $55 million, and run from the Little Little Nerang Dam to SpringbrookNational Park.

2012 - Mayor Tom Tate confirmed he had been approached by developers interested in building a cableway from Unknown, Coomera to Tamborine Mountain.

2013 - Gold Coast Airport to Springbrook, with a further connection to Burleigh Heads National Park National Park.