Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Kuwait's KFH Denies Plan for US$8 BLN Disneyland in Bahrain

MANAMA, Bahrain (Asia Pulse) – Bahrain-based Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Friday denied a report it was investing in an US$8 billion Disneyland theme park in the country. The report, in the Al Waqt news-paper, said that Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was in talks with KFH and other investors to build Disney Bahrain. "The report is totally baseless and all false," said KFH Bahrain general manager Abdul Hakim Al Khayat. "We have nothing to do with such a project and no-one has approached us." KFH has strong belief in Bahrain and its potential as an investment and tourism destination, Al Khayat told the Gulf Daily News. "We shall continue investing in Bahrain, but this report is somebody's guess." Bahrain's Economic Development Board said it had no knowledge of the project. KFH is already investing in key projects in Bahrain, such as the Durrat Al Bahrain and the Science and Technology Park. The report had said that Disney Bahrain had undertaken a study and found the region in great need of a project for family entertainment. The park would cover 16 million square metres with work expected to start in May and take six years to complete. Prince Alwaleed indirectly owns 10 per cent of Disneyland Paris operator Euro Disney and his Rotana Audio Visual Company signed a deal in November to distribute Walt Disney prod-ucts across the Middle East and North Africa.

You never can tell about these leaks. Maybe they just wanted to gauge public reaction to the idea of a Disneyland in the Middle East.

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