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Valais and Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Alps are seeing a boom in large tourism projects.

Photo: section outlined in red, below the aging chairlift in Aminona, Valais, is the land under discussion. A major investment would help resolve the problem of how to upgrade the lift, which is approved only until 2012.

Aminona, near Crans-Montana, is the latest resort to attract a large foreign investor. "This is a great project," Stéphane Pont, mayor of Mollens, the commune to which Aminona belongs, told GenevaLunch with enthusiasm. L’Hebdo last week reported in its cover story that Russian construction giant Mirax’s founder Sergei Polonsky (Sergueï Polonski in French) will sign a promise to buy nine hectares in Aminona at the end of January if negotiations continue to go well.

The company plans to build a 5,000 bed complex with a luxury five-star hotel, four towers with apartments, stables and more, to the tune of CHF250 million.

Photo: Aminona towers built 30 years ago on the left, steep hill where the new complex would go, in red.

In 2007 Egyptian investor Samih Sawiris received authorization to buy land for a 3,000-bed project i Andermatt. Swiss land purchases by foreigners were long restricted under the Lex Koller to avoid land speculation and reduce the number of "cold bed," mainly in Alpine resort areas. The cold bed, or little-used second homes phenomenon, became a problem in many Alpine areas after a booming build in the 1970s. In July 2007 the federal government repealed the law but charged cantons with the responsibility to ensure that there would not be a sudden building rush.

The cantons are now responsible but must answer to the Confederation for the balanced development of land use.

L’Hebdo‘s Alain Jeannet in an editorial raises the question of who owns the Alps and Monday Le Temps picked up the theme with a lengthy review of major construction projects in the Alps.

At issue are the environmental impact of such large projects, the money they inject into local economies, the esthetic aspect of the architecture and the boost to tourism the projects promise.

Photo: copyright Mirax

The new Aminona project promises to spark lively discussions, with three existing towers built some 30 years ago still considered an eyesore on the landscape by many. Mirax is noted for its unconventional highrises, and its projects as well as those of other large Russian companies has provoked some reaction in France ("Mondialisation: les oligarques debarquent," L’Express, France (Fre), 19 June 2006).

As Pont points out, the original Aminona development plans more than 30 years ago called for many more highrise towers, considered at the time to give the mountain villages a modern face. The company behind the project went bankrupt with only three blocks built. He acknowledges that some of the toughest opposition could come from residents of the existing towers, who are used to 30 years of unimpeded views, which were not necessarily part of the original plans for the area.

Photo: the area around Aminona is largely forest, with a broad expanse of undeveloped mountain.

For now the main question on area residents’ minds seems to be how tall the towers will be and what they will look like, questions that Pont and other officials hope to answer when they hold a citizens’ meeting in early March.

Meanwhile, just as in the 1966 Oscar-nominated movie "The Russians are Coming!" there is a sense of amazement and curiosity about the newcomers in Mollens and Aminona, fueled no doubt by l’Hebdo’s report that "the Russians" wanted to buy the Sion Airport (the answer was no).

They were then asked if the road from Mollens to Aminona could be rebuilt, at their expense.

Pont confirms that this is true, but it had nothing to do with the road surface and its winter potholes, he smiles.

The  narrow, winding mountain road with sharp drops off one side made the Russian visitors a little nervous, he says.

"They’re not used to mountain roads."

Photo: the view from the top of the land that Mirax is considering buying for its new resort complex. It drops steeply but is well above the clouds that often cover the Rhone Valley in winter, sending lowland inhabitants scurrying to the peaks for sunshine and snow.