Pearl of a project

Bahrain – known for centuries as the Island of Pearls – may get one of the world’s largest ski-resort complexes built in the shape of a pearl necklace.

The GulfWeekly can reveal that a major Russian company is in “negotiations” with a potential business partner in Bahrain over the project which could become one of the gems in the kingdom’s tourism crown.
Russian architectural enterprise, Moscow-based M-Star, says the BD6.78 billion ‘Pearl Necklace’ resort, which was showcased recently at the seventh Russian-Arab Councils Forum in Diplomat Radisson SAS in Manama, could be open in eight years.
Aza Mascurova, a company spokesman, said: “We are negotiating now.”
She would not elaborate on the local name involved because confidentiality is “one of the terms specified with our partner in Bahrain.”
The Pearl Necklace project is also of interest to rival GCC countries, says M-Star, which recently established an office in Morocco where discussions are being held to construct a ski-resort in the Atlas Mountains.
But the Middle East is the company’s next goal.
Ms Mascurova said: “The Pearl Necklace project is designed for the countries that have everything … but winter, mountains and snow.
“It must be located in a place where there is an intersection of three elements: sand, water and sky and adding one more – snow.
“To our mind, the GCC countries are the most appropriate.”
The brains behind the dream structure, which has taken two years to reach its design stage, are Jury Nikolaevich Stepanov, general manager of M-Star, and Alexander Edwardovich Zhilko, chief project engineer.
The complex would form a recreational facility, business centre and housing estate and consist of 16 skyscrapers, the highest one reaching 600m, all connected through climate-controlled glass passageways.
At the top level are ski routes that will cover a total area of 6.5km.
Incorporating special architecture techniques and advanced construction technologies, the complex is not only aiming to portray an emphasised necklace-effect, but will also give it a sensation of weightlessness and special lightness of design.
All routes will be equipped with traditional mountain-ski-style lifts. Parallel to the routes, several levels below, the structures will be connected with glass transitions and high-speed lifts allowing visitors to hop from sand to snow.
The ski routes would drop to the coast and further on below to an Oceanarium located at the end of an artificial bay.
A skier will get a chance to slide all the way from the mountain peaks right into the ocean floors in one go.

Special Report
By Shilpa chandran
shilpa.chandran@gulfweekly.com