Andermatt

This nice town in Switzerland is a favourite with bikers as every road out is an alpine pass.

The emblem of the town is a bear and this is very evident on flags and signs including the main roundabout.

Andermatt is currently the beneficiary of a significant investment by an Egyptian Billionaire developer Orascom to make the area into a major European skiing resort. The Developer courted many potential alpine resorts before choosing Andermatt - no doubt helped by the Swiss Government relaxing the normally strict legislation on non Swiss acquiring property.

The planned £1BN scheme will include hotels/apartments/villas, a golf course and crucially will expand the skiing area by linking the existing facilities to an adjacent region and the provision of new lifts to provide the real attraction for the resort.

However things are not going to plan. The apartments are not selling and work has yet to start on the key to the whole project - the skiing works. Doubts are being raised about the viability of the whole project and if the town will be left as a building site.

Has somebody sold something to somebody?

Why do I tell this story?

Because the noise from the bloody construction work was annoying!