Tunis/Tunisia — The Bukhatir group has secured 90% of the approvals from public facilities, such as STEG and SONEDE, to carry out the project of the Tunis Sport City, Afif Bejaoui, executive chairperson of the Bukhatir group in Tunisia said Thursday.

At a press conference held at the headquarters of the Bukhatir group in Tunis, Bejaoui said the first stage of this project will be ready by 2026, while the investment and business component will be completed in 2028, and the rest of the project will be completed in 2031.

The first stage of the project will soon be launched starting with the constructions and the golf course according to a new development model while preserving the sports component of the project, according to an investment agreement, he said.

Chairperson of the Emirati group Salah Bukatir said the group is committed to proceed with the implementation of the Tunis Sport City project.

He said about the deadlines of the realization of this mega-project that the group is ready to begin works provided it receives the support of the Tunisian authorities in this endeavour.

The Emirati investor said the group has never hesitated to proceed with the project, blaming the delay of the project on the global financial crisis which hindered the approval of the development model in 2008, when banks around the world gave up financing real estate, in addition to the outbreak of the revolution after two years and the acts of terrorism that followed.

Moreover, the succession of governments over the past 11 years have been a real hindrance to the continuation of the project, in that the investor has been forced to renew his offer each time with each government.

According to the executive director of the project, Meher Ben Said, the Tunis Sports City is a multidimensional project offering a set of complementary and diversified components that make it so original.

It has a sports component offering four training academies (football, swimming, tennis and golf), in line with international standards, in partnership with prestigious European clubs.

There is also a tourist component made up of six very high standing hotels, a nine-hole golf course, on 53 ha, signed by the architect Peter Harradine, in partnership with the Professional Gulf Association (P.G.A.) - United Kingdom, as well as a Central Park of 20 ha which will offer pedestrian health courses and spaces of animation and leisure.

It also has a residential section of international standing, open on the northern banks of the Tunis lake, on the golf course, and on the Central Park.

A shopping, retail and leisure section is planned, with a mall of international dimension, implanted on 13 ha, and a multitude of landscaped green spaces judiciously distributed on the whole project.

There is also a business zone section, with a business district, meeting the latest international standards of very high standing.

The city also has an entertainment component, with a 3 km long cornice on the northern banks of the Tunis Lake, accessible to the general public, with its terraces and its entertainment and leisure components.

The global cost of the project is fixed at 5.5 billion dollars and extends over an area of 250 ha on the northern banks of the Tunis Lake.

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