Project Plan: Aylan Island, a Greek home for refugees as Egyptian tycoon flashes cash

Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris – estimated to have a fortune of $3 bln – had already stated his intent to buy a Mediterranean island to provide refugees on Twitter. He is now looking at potential locations and is involved in talks to purchase two private Greek islands.

A statement from his communication office reads that he has “identified two privately owned Greek islands that constitute a good opportunity for the project”.

Here’s the project plan:

The statement says that the islands, if purchased, would still “fall under Greece’s jurisdiction” and that the deal would depend on Athens’ approval to host the maximum number of refugees permitted under the country’s laws. The tycoon hopes that Greece would take care of the “administrative process.”

If bought, the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR has offered to co-operate on the project that requires a minimum $100mn investment. A joint-stock company would be tasked with handling donations.

The island may possibly be called Aylan Island, named after Aylan Kurdi – the Syrian todder who had been washed up with debris on a Turkish beach.

Speaking to Newsweek, Sawiris said that the letters he sent to Italian PM Matteo Renzi and former Greek PM Alexis Tsipras regarding his plans for refugees have yet to be acknowledged. “It would help me much and what I need from them is the approval to get refugees there and the administrative support,” he said.

Sawiris has greatly been inspired by the e-mails of people willing to help him in his noble cause:

“I have got around 10,000 emails. Many people said they would volunteer to come and help me build this city, I have two people saying they want to donate $10m and so on.”

Sawiris believes that the project would be a win-win situation as it would also help out cash-strapped Greece. “I know that the Greek government owns a lot of islands that are uninhabited and they need the money. It would be doing the EU a favor, that is giving [Greece] the money anyhow,” Sawiris told Newsweek.