IRISH PROPERTY investors have developed an international reputation for being daring and decisive -but are they ready for holiday homes in Iraq? FRANCES O'ROURKEreports
The brochure for Tarin Hills, a resort to be built near Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, comes with the usual idyllic images: swans gliding on a lake in front of red-roofed houses, snow-capped mountains rising in the distance . . . and not a soldier in sight.
Developer Damac Properties, which has an office in Dublin, also highlights that Tarin will be a "fully gated community with security fence, checkpoints, high-tech screening at entrance gates, numerous internal monitoring points and around-the-clock security patrols".
For sale are "Mediterraneanstyle" villas, townhouses and apartments with facilities that include a spa, sports centre, 18-hole golf course, and lots more. So far, no prices have been announced - but Tarin is likely to attract cash buyers only. (Don't bother asking your bank manager for a loan.)
Damac, which is based in Dubai, has signed a €2.5 billion deal to build a new community in what is currently dusty foothills, home to a few families and shepherds.
It is the biggest investment contract signed in Iraq since the start of the Iraq war, according to Kurdistan regional government spokesman Jamal Abdullah. Due for completion in 2010, the new community will have apartments, houses, primary and secondary schools, a medical centre, a lake, hotels and a golf course.
There will also be a children's play area, shopping mall, water and theme park, and hotels.
Erbil is more than 300km from Baghdad, but just 100km from the border with Turkey where Kurdish militants are active. But the regional government is hoping that terrorism will be the past, tourism the future, in this part of Iraq.