Encouraged by booming international tourism, major investments will be launched in the Ruka resort as soon as next summer. A gondola lift spanning the entire fell will connect the existing pedestrianised Ruka village to the new Ruka Valley area, which will be built on the fell’s eastern flank. Above all, the new investments will attract international tourists.
Publishd 9.2.2018
Tauno Kandelin, Property Business Manager in Metsähallitus, believes the gondola connection will bring interest in Ruka as a destination and an investment up to a completely new level. The first building to be erected in the new village will be Rukakeskus Ltd’s Hotel Ruka Valley with 80 rooms and 40 apartments.
Metsähallitus is now looking for an investor and an operator for the international standard hotel site beside Hotel Ruka Valley. The site’s permitted building volume is 11,000 square metres of floor area. ”This site is located right next to the bottom station of the gondola lift and Hotel Ruka Valley”, Kandelin explains. All in all, 1,700 new beds have been zoned for the Ruka Valley area. Investments in Ruka Valley are expected to exceed EUR 100 million in total over the next few years.
”Ruka Valley is a unique area adjacent to Valtavaara Nature Reserve and the slopes of Ruka”, Kandelin continues. Such hiking routes as the highly popular 82-kilometre Karhunkierros trail meander through Valtavaara. ”As Metsähallitus wishes to be a pioneer of timber construction, we would like to see a building using as much Finnish timber as possible coming up on this site”, says Kandelin.
“Behind the hotel site, we also have two areas reserved for buildings serving the tourism industry. For example, buildings with 8 to 12 apartments could be constructed on them, in an excellent location close to services. The permitted building volume is 10,500 square metres of floor area in total”, says Kandelin.
These sites will go on sale later, once roads and other infrastructure have been built for them by the City of Kuusamo. The City has charged a planning fee of EUR 4.4 million to Metsähallitus, and under the law, this amount must be spent on infrastructure construction.
Metsähallitus also has four sites for sale on the western slopes of Ruka in the immediate vicinity of services. These sites can accommodate buildings with several apartments. ”We expect the investments in East Ruka to also speed up the sales on the western slopes”, Kandelin says, pointing out that the sites on the western slopes are ready to go.
Metsähallitus is also working on a detailed shore plan on Porontima Lake. It will have sites for holiday houses for year-round use, and possibly sites suitable for buildings associated with Northern Lights tourism. The area of Porontima Lake is located some ten kilometres from East Ruka, close to Kuusamo rapids and Oulanka National Park.
Additional information
Property Business Manager Tauno Kandelin, +358 40 532 5552, tauno.kandelin@metsa.fi