All news

Tourist cluster in Bezengi village to give future to its people

Eighty eight percent of Bezengi residents support a project for the construction of a world class Alpine Skiing resort

NALCHIK, August 19 (Itar-Tass) — Residents of the mountain village of Bezengi in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria understand that the construction of a modern tourist complex will give a future to the whole region.

“Reports that the residents of the Bezengi village have allegedly organized a rally against the creation of a tourist cluster are a distortion of the real state of things. None of them doubts the need to build a resort. But, naturally, there are some problems linked to the land law. There have been attempts to conscientiously substitute notions in order to exert pressure on people,” Makhi Temirzhanov, the head of the Cherkessk district of the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, said on Saturday.

Temirzhanov said that about 50 people had attended the rally in Bezengi on Saturday. Half of them were strangers who had come from other parts of the republic. “Somebody is seeking PR and wants to solve personal problems. However, most local residents have realized everything and pay no attention to these rallies,” Temirzhanov went on to say.

According to the polls, eighty eight percent of Bezengi residents support a project for the construction of a world class Alpine Skiing resort compared to five percent who are opposed to the idea. Deputies of local village councils have also backed the idea of building the resort. “The absolute majority of Bezengi residents link their future and the future of their children to this project. They hope that all of them will be integrated into this project. I am sure that this resort has an excellent future, and no rallies will be able to stop its construction,” Temirzhanov emphasized.

Earlier, Akhmed Bilalov, the head of the board of directors of the North Caucasus Resorts joint-stock company, said the construction couldn’t get underway without the consent of the local population.

“If the population is against, we are not going to build anything. The administrations of the republic and its districts and the population should come to a common understanding whether they want to develop or want to continue dividing lands to the end of their days,” Bilalov said.

He added that the unresolved ‘land issue’ in Kabardino-Balkaria could threaten the republic’s participation in the project of creating a tourist cluster in southern Russia. The project of creating a tourist cluster at this site may be replaced by a project in some other region in the Caucasus.

“There’s an entire package of inquiries and proposals from other districts and regions in the Caucasus which want to join the tourist cluster project,” Bilalov explained.

The North Caucasus Resorts joint-stock company presented the project of construction of an Alpine skiing resort in July 2012. The residents of the villages Bezengi and Bulungu had a chance to see preliminary borders of areas meant for the construction and the borders of special economic zones in the Cherkessk and Chegem districts. The North Caucasus Resorts answered all the questions about prospects of the resort’s development. Representatives of the local population who were present at the presentation supported the idea of a tourist cluster and said they were willing to cooperate with the North Caucasus Resorts.