Chinese entrepreneur Huang Nubo has had his development plans for Iceland thwarted a second time, but has vowed to see his project made a reality.
Huang Nubo originally sought to purchase Grímsstaðir á Fjöllum, comprising about 30,639 hectares in northeast Iceland, for 1 billion ISK. There, he planned to build a luxury tourist centre, replete with a golf course, villas, and other attractions. However, Icelandic law forbidding foreigners from purchasing land led to him having to seek to lease the land instead.
The Icelandic government has now turned him away a second time, saying that there was “insufficient information” in his application for the land. The situation has frustrated Huang Nubo, Bloomberg reports, although he remains undaunted:
“I’m very angry and annoyed at how bad the investment environment in Iceland is,” Huang said in a phone interview from Beijing today. “I will not withdraw the application from my side first. I’d rather wait for them to say they don’t welcome my investment. … It is the Iceland government that invited me to invest; maybe I shouldn’t have been that romantic, but cautious.”
In the event Iceland ultimately rejects his project, he said, Huang Nubo will then explore other Nordic countries for his resort.
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