(10 Oct 1999) English/Nat
The operation to lift a huge ferris wheel above the River Thames in central London is still going smoothly.
The wheel is one of the construction projects underway in the U-K to mark the millennium.
Engineers had been nervous.
Last month, an attempt to lift the wheel ended in failure.
Workers kept going until darkness fell on Saturday, and when day dawned over the banks of the Thames in central London on Sunday, the fruit of the labours was apparent.
The 150 metre (450 feet) tall London Eye, which some thought might never get of the ground due to its immense weight, had been raised to half it's full height above the river.
The construction team hopes to lift the sightseeing wheel to 65 degrees by Sunday afternoon at a rate of just 30 centimetres (1 foot) every five minutes.
Then experts will be brought in to ensure the structure is satisfactory and allow the installation of the driving gear.
With luck it will be moved fully upright next week.
The new attempt began on Saturday morning when workers freed the wheel from floating support platforms in the River Thames.
And crowds have been watching every step of the painstaking operation.
Organisers were confident there would be no repeat of last month's failure.
One of the sockets holding high-tension lifting cables to the enormous wheel embarrassingly broke in front of an audience of invited world media.
The sockets have now been completely redesigned by Italian specialists.
With less than 100 hundred days to go before New Years Eve, the project can't afford another setback.
The projects sponsors, British Airways are confident their millennium centerpiece will be working by New Year's Eve.
Paying passengers should be able to climb on board by early January.
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