OJ of Sochi: French companies have already struck gold

Chairlifts, safety nets, detectors avalanche... The Sochi olympics, which open this Friday, February 7, will have accents made in France. A number of SMES participated in the development work titanic of the eleven sites. And are already preparing for the next olympics.

The competition is already behind them. The launch, Friday 7 February, the olympic Games in Sochi, is almost over. The work has in fact taken place several years ago. "We have positioned ourselves as soon as the announcement of the victory of Sochi, says Christian Bouvier, vice-president of the company, based in Grenoble POMA, which designs of cable cars, chair lifts and cable cars. We were already located in Russia for the past ten years and have been able to win contracts. The work lasted for seven years because he had to build everything from scratch."

started from nothing or almost, the Russians have had to plan the work of pharaonic proportions to accommodate the athletes and erect equipment solid. "The teams have shown a very high requirement, and wanted equipment top-of-the-line," comments Xavier Gallot-Lavallée, CEO of the group, MND, specialized in security and the development of the mountain, who has signed for ten million euros of contracts. The branch of MND in charge of the detection of avalanches has installed 120 facilities in four sites. The resort of Rosa Khoutor in the Caucasus has also been equipped with safety nets made in France.

250 to 500 million euros a CA

POMA, for its part, has built sixteen ski lifts and announced a business volume of one hundred million euros over seven years. "The twelve French companies selected for Sochi will carry between 250 and 500 million euros of turnover figures, details Benoît Robert, president of the Cluster Mountain, structure in charge of promoting companies specialized in the development of the mountain. We try to highlight the French know-how for every race in international skiing." A beautiful presence somewhat eclipsed by the radiation of austria. "We are delighted with these sixteen contracts, and winning a fine silver medal behind our competitor austrian Dopplemayr, which has achieved a lot," concedes Christian Bouvier. Fifty austrian companies are involved in the work of development of Sochi for nearly 1.2 billion euros. For Xavier Gallot-Lavallée, France was not ashamed of its presence in Russia. "The Russians are very much inspired by the Snow Plan of the 60s that gave birth to the great valleys of the French ski."

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POMA and MND are also in the running for the grand program of development of the five winter sport resorts launched jointly between France and Russia. Born in 2011 under the aegis of presidents Sarkozy and Medvedev, in place at the time, this project involved the creation of a joint venture between Caisse des Dépôts et Consignation (CDC) and the Russian company Northern Caucasus Resorts (NCR). But the alliance was cut short and the Russia took over the hold on the project, reducing the passage to the wing."There will be no more than three stations, " continues Xavier Gallot-Lavallée, but we have already won the tender for a site, and we do not worry for the future contracts, equipment maintenance current over several years as we have forged strong links in Russia."

focus on South Korea

The business, it speaks. To maintain the good relations with the Russian teams, the French SMES rely on local relays. "We will ensure a follow-up of the equipment for the olympics by sending a small team, says Christian Bouvier. During the execution of the work, we relied on a partner company to simplify things."

companies today lights still look more to the East, on the side of Pyeongchang, in South Korea. The games in 2018 are already in all the heads. "We are very familiar with the site because we have already built the ski-lifts," says Christian Bouvier. A shared confidence by Xavier-Gallot-Lavallée, in MND."We have already responded to calls for tenders. The work must begin this summer: we're ready."

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