Works on Buddhist Circuit begins
formally
2015-07-19 the kathmandupost
KATHMANDU, JUL 18 - The government has formally
started work to develop the Greater Lumbini Buddhist Circuit to
promote Buddhist tourism.
The plan aims at fostering tourism growth and
offering better facilities to pilgrims to help boost tourist
traffic and length of stay.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and
Civil Aviation, the planned 160-km Buddhist Circuit will
incorporate 10 major Buddhist sites, including Kapilvastu, Devdaha
and Ramgram.
Lumbini is seen as a potential world-class tourist
destination for 500 million Buddhists in Asia. It hosts the
birthplace of the Buddha and over 100 related archaeological sites
scattered within a 50km radius.
Under the Greater Lumbini Buddhist Circuit project,
Nepal aims at linking the region with the Buddhist Circuit in India
as well as other regional tourism destinations like Chitwan,
Pokhara, Bardia and northern-west mountain areas.
“Necessary budget for the project has been allocated
and the work has formally begun,” said Rajendra Sigdel,
under-secretary at the ministry.
As of now, only Tilaurakot has a few
infrastructures, but rest of the important sites lack basic
facilities. As a result, Nepal has not been able to attract
tourists as expected.
Sigdel said due to the lack of basic infrastructure,
the length of stay of visitors in Lumbini is not more than 30
minutes.
The government plans to increase the length of stay
by at least five days.
“Various facilities, including sanitation,
connectivity, rest room, information board will be developed in the
planned circuit to increase their length of stay.”
The government recently approved a 10-year master
plan to transform Lumbini into a world class tourism and pilgrimage
hub. And, the Greater Lumbini Buddhist Circuit is a major component
of the master plan.
Presenting the budget for this fiscal year, Finance
Minister Ram Sharan Mahat said the master plan would be executed
and work on developing the Buddhist Circuit would be started by
this fiscal year.
The Asian Development Bank has assured to assist
Nepal in certain areas for the circuits’ development, Sigdel
said.
The master plan has set a target of achieving 2.98
million visitors by the end of 2024 with 596,661 visitors from
countries other than India, 408,978 Indian visitors and 1.97
million domestic visitors. In 2013, Lumbini received 849,273
visitors, with 125,492 from countries other than India, 150,252
Indian and 573,529 domestic visitors.
The plan also targets earning $133.67 million in
annual tourism receipts in comparison to the baseline tourism
receipts of $34.34 million in 2013. Likewise, 3,000
locals will be trained with tourism-related skills,
creating an additional 20,000 tourism jobs by the end of
2024.
The government has estimated Rs5 billion would be
needed for the implementation of the plan. The figure does not
include the costs for large-scale infrastructure such as an
airport, road construction, large-scale building construction and
those infrastructures proposed to be invested by the private
sector.
India has given top priority to the promotion of its
Buddhist Circuit. The World Bank Group is supporting India’s
Ministry of Tourism and state tourism departments of Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh on the government’s priority programme.
The Buddhist circuit is a globally important route
for over 500 million Buddhists, along the life of Buddha across
Nepal and India from Lumbini, where he was born; Bodhgaya where he
attained enlightenment; to Kushinagar; where Buddha achieved
salvation. The World Bank plans to integrate Lumbini into the
circuit as well.