A Turkish company plans to fund construction of a major aqua park on the Montenegrin coast, in another sign of closening economic ties between Montenegro and Turkey.
Ulcinj Aqua Park and Entertainment, the Montenegrin arm of a Turkish chain of amusement parks, on Tuesday said a large water park will be built in Ulcinj by the summer of 2015 at a cost of 5 million euro.
The park will be constructed near the 14-kilometre beach near the coastal resort of Ulcinj and will employ about 200 workers.
In July, the municipality decided to lease 25,000 square metres for 30 years for the building of the water park.
“Ulcinj will have the largest and most attractive aqua park in the region,” the Mayor of Ulcinj, Fatmir Djeka, said.
Turkish investment in Montenegro has grown over the years. Turkey was one of the first counries to recognize the restoration of Montenegro’s independence, days after the independence referendum in May 2006.
The Turkish Cooperation Agency, TIKA, was established in 2007 in Montenegro and has invested more than 6 million euro in the country so far.
Turkey’s Gintas Company has also constructed a modern shopping complex and a hotel in the capital, Podgorica, in a major investment worth over 50 million euro.
Although the ethnic Turkish minority in Montenegro is small, Ankara takes an interest in the wider Muslim community, which, including Bosniaks and Albanians, comprises 19 per cent of the population.
Over the past five years, Turkish institutions have donated tens of millions of euros for the establishment of Islamic primary and secondary schools in Montenegro and have financially supported the construction of mosques in the towns of Ulcinj and Rozaje.
Source: balkaninsight.com
