What golf clubs and renewable energy have in common

picture: global-b2b-network.com

 It Spain's Ferry Group have it their way, the company will invest €500 million in a massive commercial property project and another €500 million in a renewable energy project in the next decade or so.

In April, the company presented these two projects targeting the most topical sectors for investors.

One of the projects is Kuttina Sport Centre - a 1752 decare satellite village close to Sofia featuring a championship golf course, international golf school, green park areas and luxury residential and commercial areas. The other project is called Green Energy Bulgaria.

Manuel Ferry Sanches, Ferry Group president, has 20 years of experience in the golf industry.

For him golf is not only a matter of sports and profits. He sees it as encouraging environment protection and land regeneration. Kuttina Sport Centre will demonstrate what business development that respects the environment means, he says. The plot for the construction of the complex is about 2 000 000 sq m and is located in the picturesque valley between the villages of Kuttina and Kurilo. The gross actual area of flie complex will be 400 000 sq m, quite low density construction. Completing the building of the complex could rake more than 10 years, Sanches says.

"The proper construction and maintenance of such a facility is what is really-important, not who designed the course" he says. "A long-term vision and awareness of the consequences of your actions are the most important things when starring a project," he says, when asked why his company did not choose a popular player to design the course. "I'm glad that players such as Gary Player, Ian Woosnam and Jack Nicklaus are involved in the Bulgaria's development as a golf destination. I don r think there will be a competition between the different golf courses. On the contrary, they will create a synergy and will co-operate in many ways.
"When we decided to take this project we were pretty sure it will be attractive entirely for foreigners. But as we analyzed the current situation, we decided that 30 per cent of the project will be for the Bulgarian market and we hope that this percentage will reach 50."

But how does a large-scale project such as Kuttina Sport Centre become eco-friendly?
"Not a single liter of drinking water will be used for watering the course," Sanches says. Only reservoir water will be used. A state-of-the-art purifying plant, worth €5 million, will be constructed for the needs of the complex. This facility will be the first of its kind in Bulgaria"

Ferry Groups Green Energy Bulgaria envisions the cultivation of a special type of hybrid of the Pawlounia tree, an energy crop, for obtaining biomass and processing refuse plant products for the production of eco-fuel. Cultivation and collection of the first harvest will take four years. Then the company will set up a plant for the conversion of biomass to pellets. In five years the company could construct an energy plant.

Bulgaria's water resources were the main reason for the company to carry out this project in the country. The company will purchase 80 million sq m land in the regions of Vidin, Montana and Lom.

A project on this scale could not fail to attract the attention of environmentalists. But their concerns chat Kuttina Sport Centre will be on a site proposed for inclusion in the Natura 2000 European ecological network, and that the Pawlonia tree hybrid is a genetically engineered plant, turned out to have no basis.

Desislava Leshtarska
www.propertywisebulgaria.com