Malaysians Get Invite To Invest In Russian Tourism Project

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah SINGAPORE, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- Moscow-based Northern Caucasus Resorts Co (NCRC), operator of the tourist cluster in the North Caucasus, is wooing investors/developers from Asia, including from Malaysia, to invest in its plan to develop a sustainable tourism industry. Its key specialist of investor relations division, international cooperation department, Arslanbek D. Cherkesov, said as the state developer, NCRC has built the infrastructure and was now looking for potential investors to build the hotels and ski resorts. "We have started the project and currently we have the French and South Korean investors. We are looking for more investors, especially from Asia and Malaysia as well," he told Bernama at the recently-concluded three-day MIPIM Asia 2011 in Hong Kong. NCRC is overseeing construction of a massive system of ski, beach and natural health spa resorts covering 50,000 sq km in Russia’s North Caucasus range, stretching 1,200km from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea and forming the country’s southern border with Asia. The long-term, public-private multi-billion dollars initiative aims to develop a sustainable tourism industry for economic renewal of the North Caucasus mountain region. French state-owned banking group, Caisse des Depots et Consignations, has signed a strategic joint venture with NCRC to provide advanced technical, legal, planning and environmental expertise on the basis of French mountain development to support the Russian initiative. About 20 French companies have already expressed interest in investing in ski lifts, hotels, airports, mountain tunnel and other construction projects. The first investment from Asia came Nov 2, 2011 in the form of a joint venture with Korean Western Power Co to build up to five power and heating plants in the region, integrating renewable energy sources from wind and solar generation. The investment is worth approximately US$1 billion. During the MIPIM Asia, NCRC also signed a memorandum of understanding with Suprema Associates of Singapore to invest up to US$1 billion in hotel construction and retail. NCRC’s ski resorts, the centrepiece of the overall project and including the tallest peak in Europe, Mt Elbrus (5,642m), will open between December 2012 and December 2015, in time for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in the Black Sea coastal town of Sochi. Once completed, the North Caucasus ski cluster will become the world’s third-largest ski destination, rivalling the famed resorts located in the European Alps and the North American Rockies. With over 2.9 billion people in Russia, Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia living within a five-hour flight from the ski resorts, over ten million tourists of various income levels are expected to visit the mountains annually. -- BERNAMA Malaysia