Ski resort owner slams unequal competition
- By Wu Jin
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 5, 2018
In a video on the New Year's Eve, Mao Zhenhua, Chairman of the Yabuli Sunshine Ski Resort in Heilongjiang Province, accused the local administration of being dishonest and corrupt, which had severely affected his business, Beijing News reported on Jan. 3.
In the video lasting over three minutes, he said: "My name is Mao Zhenhua, President of the CCXI [a jointly-invested credit rating consultancy in China], professor of [Beijing's] Renmin University and Chairman of the Yabuli Sunshine Ski Resort. I take full responsibility for what I say even though my speech is not flawless."
He condemned the local administration, known as the Yabuli Administrative Committee, for misconduct, such as expropriating lands, building illegal plank roads, threatening travel agencies and beguiling and forcing people to pay various fees.
"They illegally took 230,000-square-meters of land from us without apology and sent law enforcement personnel time and again to threaten us, even though our operations are lawful," Mao said.
"Yabuli has launched many preferential policies, which however, have never reached us because of their intervention".
According to the Information Office of Heilongjiang Province, the provincial government has been greatly concerned about the problems revealed by Mao and plans a thorough investigation into his accusation.
Xue Dongyang, who is in charge of the Yabuli resort, said: "We'll give our honest responses; however, we hope our staff's safety can be ensured so that the company can continue to operate."
An industry insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Beijing News that the local police has already summoned 10 people, including, a deputy manager, an office director, a sales manager and several skiing coaches from the administration department of the resort.
In an interview with Beijing News, an anonymous official from the administrative committee declined to comment on Mao's complaint, saying they were still discussing the issue and would render an answer when a consensus had been reached.
According to the newspaper, the management of ski resorts in Yabuli lacks a clear-cut boundary of duties between companies and local governments. The Committee that is supposed to be an administrative organization, proposed a business alliance formed among different ski resorts and enjoyed about a one-third market share, while, the privately-owned Yabuli Sunshine Ski Resort found itself owning less than one-fifth.
In 2010, CCXI became the shareholder of Yabuli Sunshine Ski Resort and in 2014, Mao disclosed that, although the resort had yet to break even, the investment remained attractive.
However, in his latest complaint during the online video, the businessman revealed that during the past eight years he had invested more than 100 million yuan (US$15.38 million) each year, while a decent return was still far beyond his reach.
The Heilongjiang Forestry Industry Administration reported that, in 2016, the entire Yabuli tourism zone received 1.084 million visits, up 88 percent year-on-year. The gross revenue of the tourist industry reached 570 million yuan in the same year, year-on-year growth of 51.4 percent.
Mao's video has aroused immense concerns among the public. Pan Shiyi, China's property tycoon wrote in his Weibo account that he expected the provincial government to give proper attention to the case and create a fair and just commercial environment for all enterprises.
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