By Baburam Sharma, Charikot, Jan 12: An ski adventure center is being constructed at Kuri in the Kalinchowk area of the Dolakha district.

A master plan for the ski center has already been prepared by the Nepal Mountain Training Academy under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

Uttam Bhattarai, director of the Academy, informed that preparations were to construct the 'Kuri Ski Adventure Center' after having the DPR as per the master plan.

The government of Nepal has spent some 500 thousand rupees for preparing the master plan and that preparation has already been made to allocate the budget for the DPR in the upcoming fiscal year, according to director Bhattarai.

The ski center will be a model and the first of its kind in the country. In line with the target to develop the ski as an adventure sport, Mera peak ski is also being constructed at an altitude of 6,470 meter of Solukhumbu.

Devraj Khadka, an engineer of Pass Consultant, the company selected for making the master plan, said that it will cost about 28 million rupees for constructing the ski center as per the master plan and it will cover an area of 113 thousand square meters.

As it snows for only two months in the area, options to make the center lively in all the seasons including technology and activities are being explored.

Engineer Khadka of the Pass Consultant said that a water tank with a hundred thousand liter capacity will be built to reduce the shortage of water. A spiritual mediation center will also be built targeting religious tourists. Technology to produce artificial snow will also be installed and there will also be ice skating. Artificial wall climbing, a coward bike, and a 700-meter T-bar route will also be constructed, according to the master plan.

The payback period of the project is eight years. The master plan was prepared based on the data from Kuri Cable Car and Kalinchowk Rural Municipality. It is expected that there will be restaurants and lodges to accommodate and serve at least a thousand tourists a day.