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Shimla, April 17: A Manali ski resort project planned by Henry Ford’s great grandson and touted as one of the largest foreign investments proposed in India’s tourism sector could be rescued after years on thin ice in court.
Himachal’s Congress government will withdraw a case against the Rs 5,000-crore Ski Village Project filed by the previous BJP government, seven years after current chief minister Virbhadra Singh had cleared the showpiece venture in his previous stint.
“We are withdrawing the case. The company will have to apply afresh for clearance. If it fulfils all requirements, the government will have no objections,” chief secretary Sudript Roy said, referring to Himalayan Ski Village Private Ltd, promoted by an Alfred Ford entity.
The project involves a giant hotel complex with over 700 rooms, skiing tracks adding up to 14km and a host of other amenities. Up to 4,500 visitors can be hosted at one time, a spokesperson for the ski village said.
The Prem Kumar Dhumal-led BJP government had in 2010 cancelled the project, allegedly under pressure from some leaders who were against the plan saying it would spoil the local culture.
But sources said the hotel lobby in the Manali region, which draws large numbers of tourists, had feared a loss in business if the ski resort project came up. Some members of the lobby were known to be close to the BJP leaders.
The project developers challenged the scrapping in Himachal Pradesh High Court, which cleared the project in June 2012 and allowed the Ford firm to go ahead with the construction.
But the BJP government, which was voted out only late last year, filed a review plea. The Dhumal administration cited a previous high court order banning constructions in the ecologically sensitive zone. It is this review plea that the current Congress government has decided to take back.
Earlier, in 2007, a Manali NGO, Jan Jagran Avam Vikas Sansthan, had filed a petition in the high court for scrapping the project on the ground that it would adversely affect the ecology. The plea also claimed the Congress government violated guidelines in granting the approval.
But in its verdict last year, the high court had termed the BJP government’s scrapping “unreasonable”. “The action of the state is unreasonable. It is duly established that the state government had already made up its mind to cancel the project and the showcause notice was merely a ritual,” the court had said.
The Virbhadra-led Congress government had cleared the plan despite opposition from the BJP and a section of villagers. Over 115 acres are needed for the ski village but the land acquisition could not begin because of the legal hurdles.
While the court battle raged, speculation swirled that the Fords might shift the project to Kashmir, whose government was believed to have sent feelers. The decision to withdraw the case is now being seen as a positive step for investments in Himachal’s tourism sector and the state may see more proposals in the future.
The ski village, around 265km from Shimla, will also have shopping plazas, a 20,000sqft convention hall, spas and an auditorium. Located at 14,000ft above sea level, the project aims to draw deep-pocketed domestic tourists as well as visitors from the West and West Asia.
