There are a lot of ghost towns that people left for some reason, or did not want to live in this place. Last year, another one was added to them, unique in its own way - this is the Burj Al Babas residential complex in Turkey, which was conceived as a luxurious area of villa-castles. But the crisis in this country, multiplied by the pandemic, led to the fact that the developer went bankrupt, leaving debts of $ 27 million, the castles remained abandoned.
Even at the project stage, writes popular blogger Valery Petrov, Burj Al Babas has been repeatedly criticized and even succumbed to litigation for harming the environment. Its architecture received the most unflattering reviews: several hundred identical houses designed as mini-castles.
The project belongs to the Sarot Corporation Group, which involved the construction of 732 houses near the city of Mudurnu, which is about halfway between Istanbul and Ankara. To serve the future residents of the new village, who were expected to be investors from the Gulf states, an extensive infrastructure was planned: a mosque, a shopping center, a children's entertainment center, a water park, football and basketball fields, tennis courts, restaurants, fitness centers, beauty salons , conference rooms and much more.
The cost of the project, which began in 2014, was estimated at $200 million, and half of this money has already been spent on its implementation. However, the developer was on the verge of bankruptcy, and at the end of 2018, external management was introduced in the company, and Sarot Corporation Group's debt amounted to $27 million.
At first, the idea seemed successful - wealthy citizens from the oil countries - Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia bought 350 villas. But soon the contracts were canceled - according to the architect of the ghost town, this was due to falling oil prices. Construction stopped.
The cost of each such "castle", according to the official website of the project, varies from $370,000 to $530,000.
Writer Vera Sokolinskaya , commenting on this incident, writes:
“The royal communal apartment did not work out.
Prigozhin's Northern Versailles in our Lakhta is no match for the Turks, although the density of palaces is the same.
Everyone prefers exclusive (even ridiculous) typical luxury. And then he saved up a lot of money - and admire those who have no less!
- They will crawl on all their fours, and we'll spit upon them!
- Why?
- To receive the pleasure.
- And what is the pleasure in this?
- Oh, you're still too young ("Kin-dza-dza")..."