Last week, in the "Armkhi" resort in Dzheirakh region of Ingushetia the first ski slopes were opened. The Ingush authorities did not wait for government funding as part of the development of tourism in the Northern Caucasus and started to create their own resorts, with the financial support of entrepreneurs. One of the main investors in the resort "Armkhi" and Acropolis Group President Akhmet Palankoyev told VK about the project.
What does this project mean for Ingushetia?
I think this is another glorious page in our history. I think that with the opening of the resort many young people who did not know how to ski will learn to do this. These guys will be happy to study here, to train and develop. I think that this is not just sport, but also the expansion of mentality and vision, it is an additional relation, friendship. Because here our guys will learn to ski and, of course, will want to go to other places. Some of them have the opportunity to go to Europe and to see the world. I believe that the psychological barrier, when young people previously watched it on TV and thought that in Austria and France there is real skiing, has been overcome, and now it turns out that we can also do this.
How did you invest in this project? What amounts did you invest? You as an investor know that any project is a business project...
This begins spontaneously. This task was given to us by the head of state. Honestly, when we started, we did not fully understand that, maybe, this is business, and did not even realize that it is possible to do so successfully. There is a saying: all things are difficult before they are easy. I think we've done quite well. To date, we've invested about $200 million. You can see that some of the facilities are still under construction. We have completed only the first phase, and a few more runs and small skilifts will be built. We want to build a bowling center, saunas and different places to stay.
In Moscow, you can often hear: "Stop feeding the Caucasus!" and that money comes from Moscow. Your project proves that nobody feeds the Caucasus, and the Caucasus can feed itself.
You know, in a few years, a few hundred people came with me. They usually say when leaving: "Caucasus, stop feeding us!" This is not the Caucasus, this is Russia. The Caucasus is Russia, as well as Irkutsk, and Novosibirsk, and any region - this is our home, our country, an integral part of it. There have been periods in our history when the Caucasus fed the rest of Russia and the Soviet Union. Oil, and bread, and all sorts of different things can be given as an example. This is always the case. The situation is changing, the world is changing. Yes, in the Caucasus today there is a more difficult socio-economic situation because of various circumstances. But it is fixable. Today this place is one of the proofs of this.
How many jobs will it provide, if it starts to operate at full capacity?
I just want to draw attention to the fact that what has been built today is only the first step. It is not part of the federal program for the development of the North Caucasus, it is not public money, it is all private investment. We have built this resort, first, to show that we are serious. Secondly, to show what we can do by ourselves. Third, there is a technical thing, I'm sure that there will be a resort in Ingushetia, and by the time we come to this, we should already have people, experts, trainers, rescuers and doctors, electricians, etc. that is, all the staff. It will be, in a sense, source of manpower. Second - people will come, and we will collect customers who will come here and learn. That is, we will have skiers. Now, maybe there are 100-200 people who ski in the country. And in a year or two they will be thousands. 50-60 jobs are expected to be created. I speak only of the people who will work on the track. And there are related jobs that will appear - doctors, hotel staff, private farms that will supply the products and so on. One gives birth to another.
