By Vishnu Makhijani
IANS
Ruka (Finland) : What began as a hunt for timber to build log houses at an upcoming 350 million euro ski resort in the Himalayan slopes of India has blossomed into a vibrant partnership involving the Finnish government, a municipality in the north of the country and a semi-government body supported by the European Union.
This collaboration has brought in Finnish experts in the fields of environmentally sustainable tourism, ecological snow management, resort development and best operational practices.
The Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) aims to create world-class infrastructure at Manali in th e Indian state of Himachal Pradesh to position it amongst the world's best tourism destinations, the project's promoters say.
Even as HSV prepares for its groundbreaking ceremony later this year, the collaboration has already begun showing results. A group of 40 skiers from Manali have just completed a three-week training schedule at three slopes in the Lapland area of northern Finland to become instructors.
Not only that, Helsinki based Amer Sports, the world largest manufacturer of sporting goods, pitched in by providing equipment and clothing worth $2,200 free to each of the 40 skiers.
"Finland reached out to us and made it easy for us to connect with their businesses," said HSV managing director John Sims of the Nordic connection.
Sims, who divides his time between New Delhi and Manali, is a childhood friend of Henry Ford's great grandson Alfred Ford who is funding the Manali project.
In fact, the collaboration began over a cup of coffee suggested by New Delhi based business consultant Suvendu Banerjee.
"I represent various Finnish interests in India and also HSV. I suggested that Sims meet Seppo Keranen (who heads FINPRO, the Finnish Trade Office in New Delhi) over coffee and the rest, as they say, is history," Banerjee told IANS.
Keranen is also the Finnish commercial counsellor in India. He was so excited about the HSV project that he quickly brought on board Naturpolis, the semi-government Nordic Business Centre located in the municipality of Kuusamo that includes the Ruka ski resort and the tourist towns of Taivalkoski and Posio.
Thereafter, the Levi ski resort in Lapland, which is also an Alpine Skiing World Cup venue, was also brought into the loop.
All this led to the creation of FINEC or Finnish Ecological Construction for India that will focus on developing ski and leisure resorts in India, explained Ville Skinnari, the Naturpolis director for business development.
"Sims and his team visited Finland in December (2006) and we signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between FINPRO, Naturpolis, the Kuusamo municipality, and HSV to take the Manali resort forward," Skinnari added.
The MoU covers the seven critical areas of planning and architecture of ski resorts; winter sports education, equipment, clothing, timber and wood products, sustainable resort development and energy conservation.
A series of workshops will now be held in Finland between June and October after which a 'matchmaking' seminar will be held in India in October to put the final elements in place and formally launch FINEC in December, Skinnari stated.
By that time, HSV should have received its final ecological clearances from the Indian and Himachal Pradesh governments for beginning construction of the ski village.
Toward this end, HSV submitted its Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Himachal Pradesh government in April, outlining its detailed plans for development "while emphasizing its commitment to promote socially and environmentally responsible tourism", Sims explained.
The DPR lists specific strategies HSV will employ to mitigate the impact on the environment during both construction and operational stages of the project.
"The design, build and operations will be as 'green' as possible and will take into account strong waste disposal and water management strategies," Sims pointed out.
The project includes the development of luxury hotels, chalets, suites, conference facilities, an entertainment centre, restaurants and retail options. Access to the mountain area for skiing, trekking and other adventure activities will be provided by a network of gondolas and chairlifts.
The project aims to employ more than 3,500 people when fully developed and HSV will hire more than 70 percent of them from the villages around Manali.
HSV has also set up a training institute for winter sports operations. The first phase saw 75 skiers from local villages being trained for the roles of ski instructors, snow safety and search & rescue operations when the resort begins its operations. This group was then whittled down to 40 for advanced training in Finland.
According to Sims, in addition to direct employment, the HSV project will bring indirect employment and business opportunities to the local community through sourcing of local produce like fruits, flowers, milk, and vegetables for daily consumption in the resort and services like adventure and tour operation.
"These will be linked via specific HSV-sponsored rural development initiatives like cheese making, beehive products and green-house farming," Sims added.