Nestled deep inside this rather long interview with the chief executive of Tamouh Investments, Joe Ong, he lets it slip that <a href="http://www.business24-7.ae/Articles/2009/4/Pages/21042009/04222009_9080cd1578c044cab6c4848a02443c69.aspx">not only is the company still moving ahead with building a 5.8km indoor ski slope on Jebel Hafeet mountain ... but also a "two-kilometre long white water rafting circuit"</a>. By jove! Mr Ong <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080723/BUSINESS/704086365/0/FRONTPAGE">told me last summer that 114 German engineers were on site</a> getting ready to start the first phase. Now, apparently the first phase of the Dh12bn-Dh15bn project will be finished by the third quarter of next year. Originally, the slope was supposed to be just 2.6km, he said at the time. He tells Emirates 24/7 Business that the Government-backed project will also include "<strong>canals, water sports facilities, waterfalls and water rolls, spas, a 36-hole golf course, other resort-related activities and a hotel</strong>", as well as "<strong>3,000 Emirati homes</strong> at the foot of the mountain". Asked whether the project would affect the natural beauty of the mountain, he responded that the project was being "developed in such a way that when viewed from the sky the mountain would not look as if it has been affected". The project is also going to be 100 per cent environmentally friendly, which sounds challenging. The temperature in Al Ain, where the mountain is located, was 32 degrees today. In the summer it gets into the high 40s...