VIENNA: An Austrian firm has come up what it hopes is the next big thing for the mega-rich: a man-made, floating "island" with a list price of 5.2 million euros ($6.5 million), the company's founder said Monday.
Measuring 20 by 37 metres (66 by 121 feet), the "Orsos Island" has no engine but can be anchored anywhere its owners choose and then towed to another location the other side of the world if they so wish, Hungarian-born Gabor Orsos said.
"The interest has been massive from all over the world, from Australia, China, the United States. We have already had the first pre-orders and we have some potential buyers coming from Australia next week," the entrepreneur said.
The island is environmentally friendly and fully self-sufficient, with solar panels and wind generators providing power. It can sleep 12 people plus crew and offers 1,000 square metres of living space.
The only problem is that no "islands" have been produced yet and that once manufacturing starts it will initially be in land-locked Slovakia.
But Orsos expects the first finished products to be ready in 18 months' to two years' time, and for the "islands" to be transported down the Danube river into the Black Sea -- and then to wherever the customer wants. (AFP)