An Egyptian billionaire says he wants to buy an empty island from Greece or Italy for Middle Eastern immigrants.
Naguib Sawiris, a telecon CEO, said, “there is no limit’’ to what he’d pay for an island that could accommodate up to 200,000 refugees, CNN reported.
“It’s a very simple solution,†he told the network Friday. “They sell the island to me and I’ll make a temporary shelter for these people.
“I’ll make a small port or marina for the boats to land there. I’ll employ the people to build their own homes, their schools, a hospital, a university, a hotel.†They’d be free to stay there or return home at any time, he said.
A generous and well meaning gesture, no doubt done for self promoting reasons, but that's not what the migrants want. A large proportion are African economic migrants, who are after a job, any job, so that they can send money back home to ease the terrible economic climate in Africa. The island will provide nothing more than a patch of land without any sort of economic activity. I doubt that any of the migrants would go there willingly if they were offered a chance.
It would be really awesome if he really did this, and fast. These people need help now. There’re still many good people in the world. But what makes me really angry are the governments, what are they doing about this? It looks like they don’t care. It’s nice that strangers want to help and they should do it, but governments are the ones who have to take responsibility in this matter.
The gesture here is definitely commendable but this is definitely not the solution to the problem. These migrants are already facing enough problems to face yet another economic burden on themselves. While the new island, which I doubt, the two countries will ever sell to the man, may answer the refuge seeking phase of these migrants however will not answer their economic needs in anyway, thus forcing them to take the same journey once again, only a bit later in time.
This is super sweet! Some people critizie him and say that it's just for publicity, but who cares? This guy is doing an awesome thing. Now this probably won't be a permanent solution, but it's a perfect place for these people without a home to find a place to restart their lives and settle down. Maybe in a bit of time, getting firm on their feet and feeling comfortable to go out into a bigger country and live the life they deserve to choose. Good on him for doing this for people!
it goes past "buying an island"...what infrastructure? where are they going to get anything from? food, shelter...water....????
that maybe a good idea for 5 years down the road but who will govern the island? what rules do they follow?
the proper solution to this is to have each of the countries divide the amount of ppl according to what they can afford to house and send the ppl out that way. This would include the Muslim countries FIRST....
where is that fat slob of Jordan and glamourgirl wife at? is he taking in anyone?
