The Chair of IME Group and President of Nepal’s Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) announces construction of a cable car to the Pathivara temple, deemed a “national priority” exempt from planning restrictions in protected areas.
Complaint by Indigenous Peoples against IFC-backed cable car project in Nepal
Indigenous Yakthung (Limbu) Peoples in eastern Nepal, whose sacred mountain, local environment and rights are at risk from an IFC-backed cable car project, have filed a complaint to the institution’s accountability mechanism.
On this webpage, you can find all the details about the case including history and details of the complaint, timeline, partners, case documentation and latest news, and related research and policy documentation.
Complaint to the IFC’s ombudsman
From August 2022 to September 2024, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) ran a $156,746 advisory project to IME Cable Car, a subsidiary of one of Nepal’s largest conglomerates, IME Group.
The project aimed to contribute to the financial feasibility of four proposed cable cars across Nepal and attract foreign investment, including for the controversial Pathivara cable car being built in the far east of Nepal, high in the Himalayas.
The project has caused environmental destruction and proceeded without the consent of the local Indigenous Limbu People, for whom the area and the mountain are sacred. Project developers have felled over 10,000 trees in habitats of snow leopards, red pandas and Himalayan musk deer, and Indigenous protestors have faced violent repression by armed police.
This article tells the story of the people protesting the Pathivara cable car project, and reveals the tension between Indigenous rights protections and private sector-driven development.
The IFC only disclosed its involvement in the project two years after it invested and just weeks before it exited the project in September 2024.
In August 2025, Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, supported by their legal counsel LAHURNIP and advisers AIPNEE and Recourse, filed a complaint to the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the accountability mechanism of the IFC. The complaint alleges that the advisory project was in clear violation of the IFC’s social and environmental standards (namely Performance Standards 1, 6, 7 and 8).
The case is currently in Compliance Appraisal.
This briefing details which Performance Standards the complaint alleges were breached by this IFC-backed cable car project, and sets out the complainants’ demands.
The IFC’s own Performance Standards say that Indigenous Peoples have the right to give their Free Prior and Informed Consent to projects on their lands. But no one ever asked us whether we want this cable car project. The project is destroying our forests, mountain and nature sacred to us. It disrespects our cultural heritage and our religion,” explains Saru Singak from the local protest group, Mukkumlung Conservation Joint Struggle Committee.
Partners
Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy (AIPNEE)
AIPNEE is a regional network of Indigenous defenders and their organisations/groups working with or supporting communities affected by extractive and energy projects across ten countries/territories. Registered in the Philippines as a non-profit association, it is also a platform for solidarity and support for the affected communities.
In this case, AIPNEE provides advisory support to the communities affected by the IFC-backed cable car project, in their engagement with the CAO and the IFC. Alongside Recourse, AIPNEE representatives travel to World Bank Group meetings to bring the case to the attention of decision-makers.
Lawyers’ Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP)
LAHURNIP is a pioneer organisation established and legally registered in 1995 by professional Indigenous lawyers working for human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous Peoples in Nepal. It acts as legal counsel in this case, and has provided legal support in the Supreme Court and other quasi-judicial bodies in Nepal.
“The cable car project is tantamount to cultural genocide of the Limbu nation in violation of our rights guaranteed in Nepal’s constitution, Treaty of 1774 with the Gorkha kingdom, and the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples,” explains Advocate Shankar Limbu, Vice-Chair of LAHURNIP.
Fights like this one in Nepal are both about securing justice for communities and achieving wider policy shifts in international financial institutions.
This case is important for many reasons: first and foremost as an opportunity for the communities, who have suffered harm, to get justice and stop the ongoing violence and repression. There are also lessons for the IFC to inform the current review of its Sustainability Framework, how it applies its standards in advisory projects, and how the institution and its clients engage with Indigenous Peoples in project areas.
Browse below for documentation related to the case and the IFC’s coal policies.
Case documentation
