Supplier News
Kazakhstan – Silk Road casino venture is green lit
By Lewis - 2 June 2015
Big Lifestyle and Development (Seychelles) has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with the developer of the Tengri Resort in Kazakhstan to act as its exclusive sales and marketing joint venture partner.
The Tengri Resort is being developed in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan. It will be an all season resort area containing hotels, casinos, residences, shopping, golf courses, horse racing, nearby skiing, a Silk Road entertainment park and a marina. A significant aspect of the development will be full casino gaming, which is legal in Kazakhstan. The developer has acquired the exclusive gaming concession for the area and envisions the participation of several fully integrated casino resorts. The casinos will be the only legal gambling establishments within a radius of 1,800 miles, and will serve as gaming and tourist destinations for all of Eurasia.
The project will also feature medical, educational, convention and logistics developments. It is being built on an area of 16,000 square acres, bounded on one side by an 87-mile long lake and on the other by a new super-highway and highspeed rail being constructed as part of the Chinese Silk Road Project, which will stretch from Beijing to Amsterdam. A key to the project’s success is the fact that a new international airport is being constructed at the site with funding being provided by the Chinese government. The airport will be within a five-hour plane ride of one half of the world’s population and represents a cooperative effort by the Kazakhstan and Chinese governments to turn this locale into a world-class destination.
Big Lifestyle Development (Seychelles) Ltd. is actively engaged in various projects throughout Asia. Its expertise is in fields of entertainment, sports and government relations. It is involved in planning for aspects of the Silk Road Project, both in the land and sea developments; and has been involved in such diverse roles as consulting for the design of Olympic stadiums, the acquisition of gaming rights, the management of international sports events, and the development of entertainment venues.
The “New Silk Road” project of intercontinental land routes and maritime links is funded by the Marine Silk Road Bank, a US$50bn infrastructure bank that is focused on building roads, railways, ports and airports across Central and South Asia. The idea of renewing the Silk Road is nothing new. China has long invested in ports in strategic locations around Asia and elsewhere. In recent years, it funded the construction of Hambantota port in Sri Lanka and has been supporting the development of Colombo port in Sri Lanka and Chittagong port in Bangladesh. In Europe, Chinese state-owned enterprises have minority stakes in the Greek port of Piraeus and operate terminals in the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.
A map published by theMarine Silk Road Bank envisages two routes: an overland one snaking through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Iran en route to Vienna in Austria; and a maritime route from Chinese ports to Belgium’s Antwerp. Having gone on aggressive infrastructure expansion in its own vast country, China is now mapping its global presence in infrastructure to create links to its international neighbours.
