Colombia inaugurates first cable car in capital

People stand in a cable car atop Monserrate mountain in Bogota. (AFP)

Bogota inaugurated its first cable-car on Thursday, linking an impoverished and crime-ridden neighborhood to the city's transport network.

"Today we launched the TransMiCable," said the city's mayor, Enrique Penalosa on Twitter.

The 3.5-kilometer (two-mile) long cable car cost 240 billion pesos ($73 million) to build and will be able to carry up to 3,600 passengers an hour in each direction.

Its aim is to provide residents of Ciudad Bolivar greater access to the capital city's center with the aim of reducing poverty and violence in the neighborhood.

Until now, residents had to walk several kilometers or embark on a long bus journey to reach the city's urban transport network.

Similar installations in other major cities - Cali, Manizales and Medellin - have been credited with facilitating the social integration of poor ghettos and reducing violence in them.

Each journey will cost 2,300 pesos in a country where the minimum wage is just over 780,000 pesos a month but where a quarter of the population live in poverty.

Similar urban cable cars can be found elsewhere in Latin America, such as the capital cities of Mexico, Venezuela and Bolivia.