India’s longest ropeway inaugurated in Assam’s Guwahati

GUWAHATI: The longest river ropeway in India, with a length of 1.82 km, connecting Guwahati and North Guwahati over the Brahmaputra River in Assam, was inaugurated on Monday, August 24. It is expected to increase tourism in the region. The ropeway will cross Urvashi Island and the travelers will catch a glimpse of the Umananda Temple on Peacock Island, established by Ahom King Gadadhar Singha.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, Health, Finance, and Education Minister, Assam, launched the ropeway service and said that ropeways were usually built in mountainous areas, but the Guwahati ropeway was India’s first ropeway on a river and was built at a cost of Rs 56.8 crore. The ropeway will reduce the travel time from more than an hour to 8-9 minutes.

The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), which has been responsible for the execution of the project, said that the ropeway comprises two cabins with a capacity of 32 passengers each at a time but as per COVID-19 protocol, will carry only 15 people for the time being.

Many will be benefited from the river ropeway service, especially those who live in northern regions of Guwahati.

Sarma said that during the monsoon flood, people living in the northern area of Guwahati suffer a lot when the ferry service remains halted on the Brahmaputra. It takes a lot of time and cost to travel by road to reach the main city of Guwahati. He added that the project was set to start in 2006 with the aim of completion by 2011 but was suspended due to some technical grievances. Work on the ropeway was resumed in 2016 when responsibility of GMDA was given to him.

The ropeway was built using state-of-the-art technology in accordance with relevant Indian and international standards, the GMDA officials said. The ropeway is a convenient and non-polluting means of transport and an environmentally friendly source of tourism. Officials said that it is an ecologically sustainable means of transport as it runs on electric power to preserve the beauty of the area and at the same time provides passengers a comfortable and speedy way of travel.