India’s longest river ropeway of 1.82km connecting Guwahati and North Guwahati over the Brahmaputra river in Assam was inaugurated yesterday.
It is expected to boost tourism in the region.
The ropeway will cross the Urvashi island and commuters will catch a glimpse of the Umananda Temple on Peacock Island, built by Ahom King Gadadhar Singha.
Launching the service, Assam Health, Finance and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that generally ropeways are built in mountainous areas, but the Guwahati ropeway is the first in India over a river.
The ropeway will cover the distance less than 10 minutes, while earlier it used to take more than an hour.
It consists of two cabins each with a capacity of 32 passengers. However, due to the Covid-19 situation , for now the ropeway will carry only 15 people, Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), which executed the project, said in a statement.
The work for the project started in 2006 but was virtually abandoned after 2011.
The service will benefit those living in northern regions of Guwahati, Assam’s and northeast India’s main commercial hub.
“People living in northern vicinity of Guwahati suffer a lot during the monsoon floods when the ferry services remain suspended on the Brahmaputra. Travel by road to reach Guwahati takes up too much time and cost during the floods,” Sarma said.
“We had started the ropeway project in 2006 aiming to complete it by 2011. Some technical issues cropped up then. The Archaeological Survey of India had raised some issues. After necessary clearance, the work resumed,” he said.
“We resumed the work when I got the responsibility of GMDA in 2016 after becoming a minister in the BJP led ministry.”
“The ropeway is a convenient and non-polluting means of transport, as well as a source of environmentally friendly tourism. It is ecologically sustainable as it is run by electric power protecting the beauty of the area, while simultaneously providing passengers with a comfortable and speedy means of travel,” an official statement said.