February 13, 2014, 11:05 pm Entrepreneur Laxman Babu Shrestha passed away at Medanta Hospital in New Delhi today afternoon.
Known as the brain behind the Manakamana Cable Car – the first cable car in the country – he was undergoing Kidney treatment. Shrestha, 78, was admitted at the Medanta Hospital a week ago.
Founder chairman of Chitwon Co-E Group, Shrestha was survived by his three sons and a daughter.
After the 1990 democratic movement, the country opened the market. The private sector was at its infancy in 1998, when Shrestha made his dream of Manakamana Cable Car come true.
Born in Gurkha, Shrestha migrated to Chitwan and expanded his construction business. Today his company Chitwon Co-E Group has Chitwon Construction, Manakamana Darshan, Sagarmatha Power, Nepal Ropeway Systems, Aar Bee Enterprises and Chitwon Milk but he is better known for Manakamana Cable Car.
A soft spoken gentleman, Shrestha was the guardian for most of today’s generation of entrepreneurs. “He respected all unlike their age or class,” remembered Nepal Chambers of Commerce former president Rajesh Kazi Shrestha.
According to his son Rajesh Babu Shrestha, late Shrestha’s body will be brought to Kathmandu on Saturday morning. “He was our inspiration and strength as he guided us all to make us where we are and made us whom we are,” he said in his facebook message. “He was a true nationalist and spent all his life investing for the country,” Rajesh wrote, adding that the family would miss him but his teaching and his guidance will continue to inspire the family. “We assure you your vision will be taken forward by all of us in the family,” he further wrote, adding, ‘Miss you very badly dad.”
And the country will also miss a gentleman, who dared to dream and made his dream a reality.
