"Gazprom" plans to expand Krasnaya Polyana resorts onto Reserve

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in February, the Company "Kurort Plus" became the purchaser of 96.9% of the Non-Public Joint-Stock Company (NPJSC) "Krasnaya Polyana". The amount of the transaction concluded by the "Sberbank" made 35 billion roubles. In December 2015 the Supervisory Board of the "Vnesheconombank" agreed on the sale of shares of the "Krasnaya Polyana" to the Company "Kurort Plus".

The plans of "Gazprom" were reported by the "Kommersant" The video presentation campaign notes that the total capacity of the Krasnaya Polyana resorts is 25,000 persons per day; and it is several times less than in similar European resorts. To meet the growing demand for winter holidays, the "Gazprom" plans to develop the mountain-tourist centre. To do this, they plan to build four new resorts: at the top of the Tabunnaya Mount; on the Aishkho Ridge; on the Pseashkho Glacier; and to the north of the Kholodny Glacier.

Mikhail Kreindlin, an expert in the environmental law of the "Greenpeace Russia", said that all the land plots, mentioned in the project, are located in the territory of the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve.

"In case of creating the above infrastructure, the reserve will cease to exist, making plans for the reintroduction of pointless Persian leopard in the Caucasus senseless," the RBC (RosBiznesConsulting) reports.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.