Bulgaria Smart City: New investment opportunities for Chinese companies in CEE

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Europe

03:01

The concept of so-called smart cities has been embraced by China – with hundreds of projects inside its own borders. These cities use high tech to boost efficiency, and improve sustainability and quality of life for the people who live in them. That Chinese know-how is being put to work again -- creating Europe's first smart city, built from the ground up. Aljosa Milenkovic reports from Bulgaria.

This is a favorite place for Bulgarian honeybee farmers.

It is also where you'll find one of Bulgaria's best golf courses.

Just 20 kilometers from the center of capital Sofia. It's land slated for a dramatic makeover – coming soon.

ALJOSA MILENKOVIC SAINT SOFIA "Now, those are just fields with breath-takingly beautiful sunflowers. But after the harvest, in only a few months, heavy machinery will come here and begin construction of Europe's first smart city. A showcase of a concept proven a number of times so far in China."

For the new, smart city – a new name: Saint Sofia. And here is how it should look like when it is finished.

It'll house exhibition centers, hotels, mega office buildings, shopping malls, the largest aqua park in the Balkans, and many other entertainment areas.

It's main investor is Chinese-owned Bulgaria Development Holdings, which estimates that this investment is worth 1-point-25 billion US dollars.

JOSIE LOCK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BULGARIA DEVELOPMENT HOLDINGS, LTD. "And we will build phase one within the first three years. We are aiming to start construction by the end of this year. Anyway, starting from the coming '16+1' summit we'll have some signing of contracts and the agreements with some of our business partners and also with the government."

Some final agreements on land acquisition are still being finalized, including this golf course, which will remain right here, as a part of the new smart city's leisure amenities.

Projects of this magnitude and importance cannot be started without help from the government-run Invest Bulgaria Agency.

Officials there hope this project will open further development possibilities for other Chinese companies, citing investment advantages Bulgaria has to offer.

STAMEN YANEV, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR INVEST BULGARIA AGENCY "Basically that's a great opportunity for Chinese companies, for at least three main reasons. When you invest in Bulgaria, you access all of Europe. Bulgaria is the closest country in the European Union to China, and part of the One Belt One Road initiative."

Other Chinese investors have also joined this project, including the China State Construction Company, and telecom giant ZTE.

All of them hope that this new city will be a showcase that creates interest among other European countries to jointly build similar cities on their soil. Aljosa Milenkovic, CGTN, St. Sofia.