Russia's volatile North Caucasus republic of Dagestan plans to build a Cote d'Azur-type resort near the republic's capital of Makhachkala, a spokesperson for the city's administration said on Monday.
The spokesperson said that investment would reach make 150 billion rubles ($5 billion), and that the resort town would include an entertainment complex for children, a yacht club and many more facilities.
"The resort town is planned to be completed by 2017," the spokesperson said.
He also said that 15 hotels would be built with rooms for 15,000 tourists.
According to the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, more than half of all terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus in 2010 have occurred in Dagestan.
The committee reported that in August and September alone, counterterrorism and special operations in Dagestan have resulted in the deaths of 82 suspected militants.
Earlier this year, Russia's North Caucasus presidential envoy Alexander Khloponin proposed an ambitious $15-billion project aimed at creating a tourist industry in the troubled North Caucasus region, including a ski resort in Chechnya.
In 2002, the United Russia party pledged that "by 2008, the North Caucasus will become Russia's tourist and resort Mecca."
MAKHACHKALA, October 25 (RIA Novosti)
