UAE investment group revives Tunisia $5bn construction scheme

UAE investment group revives Tunisia $5bn construction scheme

The Bukhatir Group of the United Arab Emirates announced Thursday the relaunch of a $5 billion real-estate project in Tunisia, expected to boost the North African country's struggling economy.

Known as the "Tunis Sports City," the venture has been on hold for 15 years, due in large part to the 2008 global financial crisis and Tunisia's 2011 Arab Spring protests that toppled veteran autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The ambitious project will involve the construction of a golf course, sports academies, hotels and luxury villas in a lakeside northern suburb of the Tunisian capital, Tunis.