Planning permission has been granted for building the world's highest hotel-17,000 ft above sea level-in the Rongbuk valley on the Tibetan side of Mt Everest. The project has however angered environmentalists and climbers who feel that the hotel will attract more visitors and make the area a virtual theme park.

The man behind the scheme is Russell Brice, a New Zealand-born mountaineer who has been climbing and running expeditions on Mt Everest for more than 20 years. Brice and his Nepali partner, Ang Tsering Sherpa of Asian Airlines, first met representatives from the China-Tibetan Mountaineering Authority in Lhasa, where they agreed upon a joint venture to build a lodge at base camp. Brice then had to seek the approval of more than 88 government authorities before finalising the proposal for the eight-bedroom hotel and six chalets with 36 beds.

The proposed hotel will cover 22,000 square feet of the base camp area, and will include a bar and restaurant serving local cuisine. The hotel, yet to be named, is expected to cost ?2.3 million to build and designers say they have ensured that the complex will be solar powered and waste will be recycled into energy using highly pressurised tanks. Buddhist monks have advised that the design remain traditionally Tibetan.

The idea germinated from a temporary camp set up by Swedish climbers 10 years ago. "It made sense to have this sort of set-up permanently, to serve not only climbers but also the majority of tourists who visit the base camp for a short time," says Brice. But honorary secretary of the Mount Everest Foundation, Bill Ruthven, dismisses the idea: "This is commercialising Everest. It should be left aloof from the masses."