 Poster: A snowHead
|
 A multi-million pound Himalayan ski resort has been given the go head by the Himachal Pradesh state cabinet in India. To be developed by the great grandson of US automobile pioneer Henry Ford, it is hoped the project could eventually generate India's tourism industry about £150 million in foreign investment. Alfred Ford's Himalayan Ski Village Pvt Ltd plan to develop a five-star resort with 300 chalets and 700 rooms, and ski slopes with a gondola taking visitors to 4,300m.... The cabinet cleared the project last Thursday, with certain restrictions to comply with local laws and to allay any concern by locals who have opposed it. The project was given an initial clearance by the state government a few months ago, but faced opposition from residents who said the spirits of their deity had spoken to them against the idea. The company has also given an undertaking that there will be no impact on the culture and religious rights of the locals.
Work on the project is expected to begin by the end of the year and to take three years to complete. The resort will be built in three stages at an altitude of 2,600m in mountains overlooking Kullu Valley, near the town of Manali.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL235351.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5019176.stm
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
I'm sure that I read about this somewhere else...a while ago 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
So .............. parachute a load of rich Westerners into a poor third world area to use up more than their share of the area's resources, have fun at the expense of the local environment and line the pockets of other wealthy Westerners.
I'm inclined to think not.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Chatting to a fellow snowHead who works in the field of development. An interesting angle to this sort of story is the possibility the development status may be rescinded, and subsidies removed, when a project of this kind is approved. Will the local farmers benefit? That's not so clear. They will be shipped up from the valleys to earn a few pennies to work on the building sites temporarily, and then...
There have been two previous snowHeads threads on Alfred Ford's Himalayan Village project, both of which include links to articles from the world's media. Approval of the project was not so clearcut, although there are rumours of money changing hands, that that final permission was a foregone conclusion, that even before last week's announcement building work had already begun...
Previous snowHeads threads here and here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| Lizzard wrote: |
So .............. parachute a load of rich Westerners into a poor third world area to use up more than their share of the area's resources, have fun at the expense of the local environment and line the pockets of other wealthy Westerners.
I'm inclined to think not. |
There are huge and growing numbers of middle class Indians these days.
I suppose you could say of the French Alps that a lot of rich Britons parachute in, have fun at the expense of the local environment and line the pockets of other rich Britons. Perhaps, if we stopped, the French Alps could achieve coveted third-world status.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
But if development region status is threatened as a result, I'm not so sure about the benefits to the local area. Locals aren't suddenly going to move up to 2,600m to live - who will care for their smallholdings? Most work will only be temporary anyway during the construction period, paid with peanuts, and who will get the long-term work?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Presumably development region status will be threatened because the area will have been developed - and funding can go to regions which are less developed. Huge numbers of Indians travel to the Gulf to work in construction projects, so I don't see why they shouldn't move within their own country - and I'm sure there's labour to be had closer that 2,600 miles. The pay may be "peanuts", but more peanuts than they could otherwise make, or they wouldn't do it. After one project they could move to the next - or go back to what they were doing, or man the hotels, restaurants, hire shops, lifts, etc, etc. If it's good enough for France, it's good enough for India.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quote: |
line the pockets of other rich Britons.
|
Not the way the market is at the moment! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
laundryman,  Yes, I'm aware of the overall philosophy! But I'm more interested in the reality of this isolated case, where an entire region could lose development region status because of a single mega development in the middle of nowhere that may barely affect the lives of the farmers in the valleys below, and employ mainly outsiders, etc.
There's the theory - and then there's the reality. When you say the "area" will have been developed - that's not exactly the case. This is a massive influx of capital into a single 'small' pinprick of concrete halfway up a mountain - it's the overall figure that is mainly the basis for assessing whether an area qualifies for subsidies, not what that money is actually doing for the locals. In this case we're talking about people on the poverty line, living hand to mouth, not relatively comfortably well off locals in the valleys of the Savoie pre-ski resorts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PG, that's really an argument for a more rational distribution of development subsidies, not for quashing a development.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
laundryman, true!
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
EOSB 2012 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
