The project will call for the redevelopment of the existing entertainment city and the Al-Andalus garden - located behind Mina Magal - and the construction of a new entertainment city in the neighbourhood.

'At present, we are preparing a feasibility study for the project. It will take three months to complete,' says a project source. The next stage in the project implementation will be the signing of a lease agreement with the Basra governorate and the preparation of final designs. 'We will work out the total investment after completing a blueprint of the proposed facilities to be built,' the source says.

In June,Kuwait-based Global Investment House confirmed the launch of IHC, the first Gulf-based company dedicated to investment in the local private sector (MEED 27:6:03).

The company has a total paid-in capital of KD 60 million ($200 million), of which KD 59.5 million ($198 million) has come from a share offering targeting investors in the Gulf and Europe.

IHC has since set up an office in Basra and plans equity investments in the private sector. They include banking, consumer finance, housing finance, telecommunications, education, healthcare, entertainment, light industries, transport and logistics.