In Crimea, snow fell on Ai-Petri, and the cable car was closed - there is a legal dispute over it
Snow fell in the mountains above Yalta. However, one of the tourist icons of Crimea's southern coast—the Guinness World Record-holding Miskhor-Ai-Petri cable car—has also ceased operations. On New Year's Eve, the lift, along with the land at the lower, middle, and upper stations, was transferred from municipal to republican ownership, to be given to a private investor for development. For now, the cable car is closed, and private taxi drivers are making money by transporting tourists to the snowy slopes of Ai-Petri , reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Previously, the highest cable car station in Crimea, "Santa Claus's Residence," operated at the top station during the New Year holidays. But this year, its opening was canceled, not only due to restrictions on holiday events—the residence's main guests were children, who were exempt from the moratorium—but also because the lift to the Ai-Petri plateau has been sealed since early October. And in November, the Yalta City Council decided to abandon the facility and transfer it to the republic's management, as a certain LLC "Rus" had appealed to the Crimean Ministry of Land and Property Management to hand over the cable car for modernization.
“The project provides for technical research and implementation of a project to modernize the Miskhor - Ai-Petri cable car in order to increase its capacity,” says the explanatory note to the resolution. “In addition, the project provides for the improvement of the plateau in the area of the upper cable car station by placing modern elements of infrastructure and services.”
The plan to increase the cable car's capacity is astonishing – the lift is considered one of the top ten unique engineering structures in the world thanks to its "pendulum" principle. The 1.5-kilometer stretch from the middle to the top station has no supports; their function is performed by cars moving toward each other at a precisely calculated speed and passenger count. For this reason, the cable car can carry a maximum of 700,000 passengers per year, taking into account mandatory maintenance every 10 months. Therefore, the issue is not about modernizing the lift, but about "improving the plateau" at the top station.
The service area of the cable car includes 1,3 hectares of the Ai-Petri plateau, where there are retail shops, cafes, restaurants and viewing platforms. From the beginning of the XNUMXs, there was an illegal market in the neighborhood that fed the top of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, banned for extremism in the Russian Federation.
Even the transfer of the island under Russian jurisdiction failed to stop the illegal trade. After the demolition of the illegal buildings, market vendors began selling from vans and car trunks, as demand remains : hundreds of tourists climb the plateau every day to admire the panorama of the Yalta waters and take breathtaking photos.
At the official level they talked about the need to improve the plateau. But positions on this matter differed - the head of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, believed that there should be nothing there except benches, restrooms and shady canopies, and at that time the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic, Vitaly Nakhlupin, who is now serving time for bribes, lobbied for a certain construction project new cable car.
“There is an alternative proposal from an investor who would like to create a modern cable car with a very high speed of delivery of tourists,” Nakhlupin convinced members of the Crimean government at a meeting in September 2016. “With such an investor, we will seriously increase the number of tourists raised to the plateau.”
It goes without saying that the increased number of tourists will require a more developed infrastructure with hotels and restaurants. One problem is that the plateau lacks water sources and a sewage system. Without utilities using trucked water and cesspools, it's impossible to build a large-scale business.
However, the Crimean authorities did not abandon the construction of a new cable car on Ai-Petri and signed an agreement on the creation of a mountain-recreational cluster in Yalta, for which a new cable car will be built. The NGO "Fund for the Support and Development of Physical Culture and Sports", which is backed by the head of Rostec Sergei Chemezov, billionaires Gennady Timchenko and Alisher Usmanov, intends to build a cable car for 6,6 billion rubles 3,6 km from the lower section in the Vasilyevka area to a mountain cluster at an altitude of approximately 1,5 thousand meters. At least that’s what a fund representative said after signing the agreement.
But the destination of the new cable car is unclear, as none of the 1,500-meter peaks of the Crimean Mountains are located near Vasilyevka. Furthermore, the station is expected to be adjacent to a biosphere park, tourist and sports facilities, a four-star health and wellness complex, and a hotel complex with a cantilevered swimming pool, as well as an aparthotel, a spa complex, restaurants, and other tourist and entertainment facilities. All of this will be located on an area of 14,5 hectares.
It's impossible to find a vacant area of this size in Yalta without encroaching on the boundaries of the Yalta Mountain Forest Nature Reserve. However, its status will soon be downgraded to national park status to reflect the current situation—gas pipelines, power lines, and roads leading to cottage communities are not permitted to pass through protected areas. This downgrading will allow the former reserve's land to be used for recreational purposes, making the Ai-Petri plateau, with its panoramic views and snow-covered slopes, ideal for large-scale investment projects.
However, Rus LLC, which is laying claim to the existing cable car, can hardly be considered a major investor. This company's email address matches that of the Spetsnaz-Rus, a self-regulatory organization of special forces veterans and combat participants registered in Sevastopol. The Ministry of Property and Land Relations responded to the investor's plans with standard phrases.
“After concluding an investment agreement, the investor will improve the Miskhor-Ai-Petri cable car complex, create new jobs, and attract local contractors and suppliers for the work,” said Larisa Kulinich, Minister of Property and Land Relations.
Once again, the officials' explanation contradicts the cable car's intended purpose. The lift can only be serviced by specialists qualified and authorized to handle this type of complex engineering, and local contractors lack manufacturers of metal cables, shafts, and other metallurgical products. Jobs can only be increased by creating "associated infrastructure"—retail outlets and food service facilities on the Ai-Petri plateau near the cable car's upper station. But it's unlikely that special forces veterans will be tasked with this. They'll likely outsource this function to subcontractors.
As for the long-term operator of the cable car, Startinvest LLC, he is trying in court to defend his right to continue servicing the lift and carrying tourists. There were no complaints about the work of Startinvest; on the contrary, there were certificates and gratitude as one of the city’s budget-generating enterprises: 200 jobs, about 20 million rubles in tax deductions per year, uninterrupted operation of the cable car since 2000. The only failure in its entire history occurred in 2013 due to a factory defect in the shaft. Then, after a shutdown, 74 tourists along with two accompanying workers were stuck in two trailers. Rescue work lasted more than 9 hours; after descending in safety equipment along a cable, tourists shared their impressions and drank tea in the heating area until the morning.
“The road has been closed and sealed since the beginning of October, the company does not have the right to service it based on the decision of the Arbitration Court of Crimea, which, at the request of the Yalta administration, canceled the lease agreement for the property complex of the Miskhor-Ai-Petri cable car, which we appealed in the Arbitration Court of the Central District . A court hearing on our complaint is scheduled for January 16, and as part of the consideration of the case, the court prohibited any actions with the cable car property. But, despite this, it is being transferred from municipal property to republican property, the enterprise administration explained to PolitNavigator. “But even a change of owner does not cancel our right, as a bona fide tenant, to continue to maintain the road. Moreover, in the conditions of an aggressive marine climate, after being idle for 2-3 months, it needs a comprehensive examination and preventive repair work in order to receive documentation for launch. In Crimea, only our company has licenses and highly qualified personnel to carry out this kind of work.”
Startinvest has its own project for improving the site at the upper station on the Ai-Petri plateau. The cable car project of 1967 provided for mandatory shelter for passengers - shelter in case of bad weather. Especially in winter, when squalls and hurricanes can arise unexpectedly. In addition to the shelter, it was proposed to create a museum complex on the plateau with a planetarium and an exhibition on the geology of the Crimean Mountains. But officials preferred other options for developing natural attractions.
Snow fell on Ai-Petri in Crimea, and the cable car was closed due to a legal dispute over it.