November 8 (SeeNews) - Spanish developer Ferry Group hopes to launch a 500 million euro ($733.5 million) golf and residential project near the Bulgarian capital Sofia by the end of the year, and plans to develop a similar project in neighbouring Romania, the group’s owner Manuel Ferry Sanchez said on Thursday.
The launch of construction works, however, could be delayed by several months, to March-April, if the weather is bad, Sanchez told a news conference.
The development, Kuttina Golf Resort, will feature an 18-hole golf course, a five-star and an apartment hotel, apartment buildings, villas, cottages, sports and entertainment facilities, trade areas and public infrastructure. It will be built in the Kuttina village, 15 minutes drive from Sofia, in the still underdeveloped northern outskirts of Sofia.
“I think in April 2009 we could play golf at our own golf course,” Sanchez said.
The hotel and residential part of the project, which will have a total built up area of some 610,000 square metres, will take more years to complete.
The golf and residential development will use renewable – solar and biomass - energy, and in this regard it will be a pilot project for the company in Bulgaria, Sanchez said and added that within four years of its construction it would be energy self-sufficient.
Ferry Group said earlier this year it plans to invest some 40 to 50 million euro in planting fast-growing Pawlounia trees and building biomass productions units in Bulgaria. The Spanish investor has also said it is planning up to 500 million euro investment in a thermal power plan which will run on biomass produced by the company.
Ferry Group plans also developing a similar golf and residential complex in Romania.
“It will be smaller than the Kuttina project as the site is smaller. The design phase has already been launched,” Sanchez told SeeNews but declined to provide further details.
Ferry Group (www.ferrygroup.com), comprising a group of family companies, develops projects in the construction, tourism, sports, property and agriculture sectors in Europe. The group runs three gold courses in Spain and is currently developing three more.
($ = 0.682 euro)