Orascom Development, a leading developer of integrated towns with a strong foothold in Egypt and the Middle East, has announced plans to develop a resort town in Montenegro that will include hotels and an 18-hole golf course.

The project on the Adriatic coast would also include a marina, a town centre, commercial facilities and 2,350 residential units built over 6.8 million square metres on the Lustica peninsula in the town of Tivat, the Swiss-based developer said in a statement. The company, however did not say how much it would cost.

The first phase would comprise building the main mooring area, hotel and town centre, and would be operational within five years. The town will be Orascom's third integrated development project in Europe, it added.

Orascom said this month it was finishing a deal to build a coastal tourist village in Europe, and that it would be similar to the company's flagship development El Gouna, a high-end resort on Egypt's Red Sea coast. But it did not say where that project would be built.

Orascom said it will hold a 90 per cent stake in the Lustica project, while the government of Montenegro will hold the rest.

Orascom Development's main presence is in Egypt but it has projects in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Switzerland and Morocco. It recently announced plans for new projects in the UK and Turkey.

The company reported a net profit of roughly $42 million in the first half of 2009, up from $39 million in the same period a year earlier.-Reuters