Project approved to build a cable car to the Western Wall
At a festive cabinet meeting held at the Western Wall in honour of the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem’s reunification, Israel’s government approved a tourism project to construct a cable car to the Western Wall.
The government approved the first phase of the the recommendation of Tourism Minister Yariv Levin to the project led by the Tourism Ministry and Jerusalem Development Authority. The initial budget of NIS 15 million will come from the ministry, and the total estimated cost of the project will stand at about NIS 200 million.
With the approval of his recommendation, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin noted that “The future cable car will change the face of Jerusalem, allow easy and convenient access for tourists and visitors to the Western Wall and will serve as an exceptional tourist attraction. There is no more appropriate and exciting time than this – 50 years since the reunification of Jerusalem – to launch this revolutionary project.”
The cable car, which will run from the First Station, via the Mount of Olives to the Dung Gate, will offer a solution to problems related to the inaccessibility of the Western Wall. Access is currently via narrow, winding and very crowded routes. The cable car will provide easy, quick and convenient access to the approximately 130,000 tourists and visitors who converge on the site every week.
The route of the cable car will be about 1.4 kilometers, carrying up to 40 cars with up to 10 passengers in each. The cable car can serve about 3000 visitors an hour in each direction and will travel at speeds of up to 21 kilometers an hour. According to professional estimates, the cable car will begin operating during 2021.
It is a revolutionary project indeed and wonderful there needs to be no negotiations hopefully, with another papal vistit on the cards in the autumn.