PM Dahal inaugurates Lumbini cable car

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal inaugurated the Lumbini cable car on Thursday. Prime Minister Dahal formally inaugurated the cable car by unveiling a copper plaque at the bottom station in Golpark Bamghat of Butwal. The cable car is around three kilometers long and it is operated from Golpark Bamghat of Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City-3 to Basantapur of Tinau Rural Municipality-3 in Palpa district. It is the first cable car in Lumbini Province.

Basantapur, where one can reach from Lumbini cable car, has Kamakhyadevi Temple, as well as Bhagwati Temple, Ganesh Temple, Kailash Parbat, and other structures like pond, stone spout, and it has now become a religious tourism destination.

An agreement has already been reached among Lumbini Cable Car Company, Butwal Sub-Metropolis and Tinau Rural Municipality for daily operation of the cable car. The IME Group constructed and brought the cable car into operation on its investment. This is the third cable car run by IME Group. Chairperson of Lumbini Cable Car Pvt Ltd Chandra Prasad Dhakal said that with the operation of Lumbini cable car, a new religious and tourism destination has been added in Basantapur. He said, "We became successful in constructing and bringing the Lumbini cable car into operation due to the love, goodwill and support of the federal government, Lumbini province government, local government as well as local brothers and sisters." It is believed that the cable car connecting Rupandehi and Palpa districts would help in economic and social transformation of Rupandehi, Palpa, Nawalparasi, Kapilvastu districts as well as overall Lumbini Province. This project would be a milestone to fulfill the desire and wish of political leaders and people of Lumbini Province of making Rupandehi as the financial capital of Lumbini Province, mentioned Chair Dhakal. He also announced a new campaign for construction of a cable car religious tourism circuit. In the first phase, Rs 1.5 billion has been invested for the construction of a cable car. The total cost of the cable car project along with the resort is Rs 5 billion. Restaurants have already been constructed at the top station of the cable car while a hotel, children playground, skywalk, zipline are under construction. The bottom station is 230 meters above the sea level and the top station is 940 meters above the sea level. There are 25 gondolas in the cable car. One can reach the top station within 10 minutes travel from the bottom station.