Indian resort suffers setback
Thursday February 25, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The Ski Village concept plan was first proposed back in 2004 by Alfred Ford, a member of the Ford Motors family and chairman of the Himalayan Ski Village project.

It envisaged a major ski resort close to the established tourism centre of Manali in the Indian Himalayas, which already has rudimentary ski facilities and world famous heli-skiing in the area.

The project was said to be the country's largest tourism proposal with a value of $350m with plans to construct 170 seven star rooms, 1000 four star rooms and 100 chalets on 93.1 hectares of land.

We have already reported on the uncertainty here on PlanetSKI and the disagreement over whether it has met environmental rules.

It was given the go ahead by the then government in late 2005.

The project has stalled following the election of a new government however, with claims and counter claims from the government and the developers that the project was unpopular/popular with locals people and that the developers hadn't/had carried out adequate environmental assessments, among other things.

"We have replied to the government's notice saying it is totally in error and answering each objection. The political party currently ruling the state is opposed to the project, which was supported and approved by the earlier ruling party. This is a common circus played out in India, with no regard for the legal or moral sanctity of a contract, or the impact on the growth and employment  for the people," says John Sims from the developing company. HSV Ltd.

"We intend to fight for the rights and have followed every environmental and filing process threadbare."

He goes on to make the following accusation.

"The country needs a good ski resort as well as thousands of other facilities, including basic roads and good governance, but corruption, and lack of support for development continues to hold the country back. HSV will fight on until we prevail. This is good for the local communities who need employment and environmentally engineered to put a minimum pressure on the environment."

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