Satellite City with 'Artificial Sea' to Be Built near Sofia

An investment fund is to build a satellite city near Bulgaria's capital Sofia, sources close to the entity have said.

Three billionaires are reported to be involved in the project, Bulgarian newspaper 24 Chasa has revealed, citing the sources.

Steven Lo, a Hong Kong-based tycoon, is expected to be among them. The identities of the other two could be made public later on Monday, as the project is to be introduced to Bulgarian authorities.

Steven Lo has held conversations with the mayor of Musachevo, a village to the west of Bulgaria and 21 km east of the capital Sofia near which the satellite city is to be constructed. He told mayor Miliyan Milev that his partners also own hotels in Macao and Las Vegas, but did not reeal their dentities.

In October 2013, Lo was reportedly poised for a share in Bulgaria's CSKA football team.

He denied those claims when he made a visit to Musachevo, but announced he was looking for 800-da of land.

24 Chasa's sources have suggested what the project might involve. Four 5-star, 30-storey hotels, four 4-star hotels, four 22-storey apartment buildings for sale and "a 30-da indoor sea offering imitations of sun, high temperatures, waves and wind" will be among the satellite city's features.

Bulgaria's Council of Ministers has confirmed that investment intentions have been declared in a letter to the government, which has been forwarded to the Bulgarian Investment Agency.

According to Miliyan Iliev, the venture now only needs green light from the agency to become an A-Grade investment.

The project is expected to be worth BGN 100 M.

Local media have already started to jokingly call it "Sea of Sofia", referring to a...