The Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has officially opened the country's first commercial ski resort.

The Malam Jabba resort was first conceived in 1962, when the Austrian ambassador to Islamabad suggested that Pakistan should develop a ski industry.

After feasibility studies were completed, it was decided that the country's first commercial resort should be located in the Swat Valley in northern Pakistan.

But creating the resort has been something of an uphill struggle. It's taken over 35 years to complete the project.

In the mid-1980s, the Austrian Government donated a chair-lift, along with the hotel's kitchen equipment and around 150 pairs of skis and boots.

Most of the building work was finished in 1988, but since then, there have been a series of legal battles relating to the possible privatisation of the resort.

The delays have created further problems. According to tourist officials, difficulties with the hotel building, for example, mean that at the moment, only six of its 52 rooms are currently useable.

Snow is expected in Malam Jabba in around six weeks. At that point, the lift - which can carry 56 passengers at one time - will be pressed into service.

It was installed nearly 15 years ago, but officials say it is still in good working order.