Today, on February 15, on the site of the Russian Investment Forum RIF-2018 in Sochi, Joint-Stock Company Northern Caucasus Resorts and POMA S.A.S. (France) signed a shareholders’ agreement to establish Russian-French Joint Venture National Rope Ways LLC. The document was signed by Khasan Timizhev, Director General of JSC NCR, and Jean Souchal, President of the Board of Directors of POMA S.A.S.  The signing was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Khloponin, the First Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for North Caucasus Affairs – Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC NCR Odes Baysultanov, and by the Vice-President of POMA S.A.S. Jean-Paul Huard and member of the Board of Directors of POMA S.A.S. Fabien Felli. 

The purpose of the project is to create a high-tech joint venture that provides localization of production of ropeways in the Russian Federation.

‘Today, here, on the site of the Russian Investment Forum, a critical event took place - we have made a new step in the development of the domestic ropeways production by signing a shareholders’ agreement to establish Joint Venture National Rope Ways LLC,’ the Director General of JSC NCR Khasan Timizhev said after signing of the shareholders agreement. He stressed that this is a significant event not only for JSC NCR and the Northern Caucasus, but also for the Russian Federation as a whole. ‘We are creating conditions for advance development of the nascent ski industry. I am convinced that the joint venture will be able to take its niche not only in the domestic market, but also abroad,’ Khasan Timizhev commented. According to him, the partnership with POMA S.A.S. ‘gives confidence that the Russian-French joint venture will be based on years of experience, advanced technological solutions and modern methods of training technical engineering staff.’

In accordance with the shareholders agreement, the major activity of the joint venture will be manufacture of passenger ropeways — tourist lifts to work for mountain resorts and those used as urban transport. The authorized capital of the new company National Ropeways in the amount of RUB 60 million shall be formed jointly by the parties.
President of the Board of Directors of POMA S.A.S. Jean Souchal thanked the JSC NCR for long-term cooperation and recalled that it is the ropeway manufactured by POMA that was the first constructed in the North Caucasus resorts – All-Season Tourist and Recreational Resort Arkhyz in Karachay-Cherkessia in 2012. ‘For the last six years we have been working together, and now we turn to a new level of cooperation – that is the creation of joint venture National Ropeways. The successful history of POMA S.A.S. lasts for 80 years already, and we hope to spend the following 80 years together with our Russian partners,’ Jean Souchal stressed.

At the first stage, in 2018-2019, beginning of SKD assembly of ropeways is scheduled based on production facilities in the North Caucasus Federal District, for which, according to the results of the analysis, a plant in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic was chosen. By 2021, the projected localization shall be the highest compared to other businesses due to orders placed for manufacture of metal structures and supply of metalware, as well as the increase in the assembly of SKD elements of ropeways. Further, the parties plan to switch to the production of individual elements of ropeway to increase the localization percentage of complete cycle production.

As we have informed, the agreement on cooperation and coordination within the establishment of a joint venture for localization of ropeways components production in Russia was signed between JSC NCR, JSC NCDC and POMA S.A.S. October 24, 2017 The Partner on the French side is one of the global leaders in the design, manufacture, operation and maintenance of ropeways — POMA S.A.S., supplying ropeways to the resorts of the North Caucasus tourism cluster: Arkhyz, Elbrus and Veduchi ATRC. The passenger ropeway components production localization project in Russia is being implement under the auspices of the Ministry of the North Caucasus Affaires of the Russian Federation.