Russia will build five ski resorts in its volatile North Caucasus region at a cost of over $15 billion, Russian business daily Kommersant said on Monday.
The Russian government will hold around 98 percent of shares in the North Caucasus Resorts company, which will be responsible for the construction of the resorts. The state will allocate about $2 billion for road construction and infrastructure.
The resorts will be located in the republics of Dagestan, North Ossetia, Karachay-Cherkess, Adygea and Kabardino-Balkaria, the paper said.
Presidential envoy to the North Caucasus Alexander Khloponin received orders from President Dmitry Medvedev earlier this year to make preparations for the project.
Russian state-run banks Vnesheconombank and Sberbank will be minority shareholders of the company, which will help investors to attract loans, the paper said.
Coordinator of a working group on the project Akhmed Bilalov said in June that ski resorts could significantly increase the flow of tourists to the region, which is currently only around 1 million annually.
Moscow has been fighting violence and corruption in the volatile North Caucasus region since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Two bloody wars in the 1990s and regular terrorist attacks have stifled the region's economy and deterred tourists.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev insists that improvement of the social and economic situation in the region is the key to the solution of the problems there.
MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti)
