Monaco is planning to reclaim 15 acres of land from the sea so that thousands more millionaires can move to the tax haven.
The £1.5billion project will provide luxury apartments at a time where the housing demand in the principality has peaked meaning the supply has run dry.
In order to accommodate those wanting to move to Monaco, the 10-year plan aims to recover land in the Mediterranean to build more homes in a move which has been given the green light by the reigning monarch Prince Albert II.
It is estimated 2,700 more multi-millionaires will call Monaco home by 2026, but as it stands there is nowhere for them to move in.
Construction has already started on the ‘offshore urban extension project’, according to Monaco Matin, which will add 15 acres to Monaco’s 500 acres.
The scheme will allow for 120 luxury homes staggeringly priced at more than £75,000 per square metre.
Although this is nowhere near enough to account for the entire estimated population swell, the new Portier Cove ecologial neighbourhood is seen as a vital commodity for Monaco’s growth.
It will be situated near the Casino de Monte-Carlo and the building is being carried out by construction company Bouygues.
The firm have taken extra measures to preserve the wildlife in the Mediterranean including moving important species to a new reserve and creating an artificial reef for the animals that remain.
In order to build the foundations, Bouygues is said to be importing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sand from Sicily to create dry land, according to The Telegraph.
Philippe Bonnave, chairman and chief executive of Bouygues Construction, said: ‘We are very pleased to have the opportunity to take part in the development of the Principality of Monaco by way of this new land reclamation project which will create six hectares of habitable space, meeting the highest ambitions with respect to sustainable development and environmental protection.’
The project includes the construction of an eco-neighbourhood primarily consisting of housing, public facilities, an extension to the Grimaldi Forum, a public car park, a marina, a landscaped park, a seafront promenade and a shaded, planted walkway running the length of the Japanese Garden.
Edward de Mallet Morgan, global super prime residential partner at Knight Frank, told The Guardian the gulf between demand and supply had driven prices in Monaco ‘through the roof.
He said: ‘Such is the demand for new waterfront homes that price will be little deterrent to buyers – and their tax advisers – who are thinking ahead with wealth preservation in mind for future generations of their families,’ he said.
Those who snap up the apartments, of which only 70 will be placed on the marked with the developers keeping hold of the remaining 50, will join some of the high-profile figures who already call Monaco home.
It is an obvious pull for Formula One stars past and present in Lewis Hamilton, David Coulthard and Jenson Button given the city-state’s affiliation with the sport.
But tennis great Novak Djokovic, singers Shirley Bassey and Bono, and businessmen Philip Green and his wife Tina and Mohamed Al Fayed all live in Monaco.
Mallet Morgan told The Guardian one of the main lures was to pay as little tax as was possible on their sizeable pay packets.
‘You can’t avoid that Monaco is a tax haven,’ he said.
‘You can dress it up as a low-tax environment, but it is a tax haven with a lot of tax breaks for families, businesses and importantly inheritance tax.’
In Britain, incomes of more than £150,000 is taxed at 45 percent.
But in Monaco, there is no personal income tax and even businesses can go free of levies if the majority of their work is carried out within the principality.
There are three paths to becoming a Monaco resident.
One is through being offered work by a current resident, another is by setting up a business in the principality and the other is by demonstrating wealth.
If a foreigner deposits £440,000 into a Monaco bank account – they can apply automatically for residency.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5099939/Monaco-s-1-5billion-plan-reclaim-land-sea.html#ixzz4z0dewpSa
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You see, we can’t do things like this for the homeless in this goddamn world, only for the rich. really tired of all the bullshit.
Take a drive through Utah, Nevada, New Mexico or the Kansas prairies, so much waste, so many homeless.
Those are just a couple of the states I drive through every day, you should see the rest of the wasted stolen lands in America.
Fking sad…. Last week I drove 3000 miles plus, most of it through wasted moon scape.
“Monaco is planning to reclaim 15 acres of land from the sea so that thousands more millionaires can move to the tax haven.”
15 acres?
One decent missile should be able to obliterate that with no problem.
Micro nuke, though, just to be sure.
If it’s land they want, wouldn’t it be cheaper and faster to just conquer 15 acres of France?