A TANTALISING view of the Aegean’s newest $50 million marina which is set to dominate the Didim coastline has been unveiled for the first time.

The layout of Didim D-Marina, which is scheduled to be open in summer 2009, reveals for the first time the extent of a new ' hub of life' on the 70 acre site. The marina will have a yacht club, heliport for the rich and famous to land helicopters direct on the site, a capacity for 623 berthed yachts and 600 yachts in dry dock, a yacht lift for 300 and 100 tonnes, and a swimming pool.

The marina will serve mainly yachts of 75 - 150 metres long, such as mega-yachts which are increasingly in popularity on the Aegean and east Mediterranean seaboard. There will be also shopping centre, supermarkets, yacht equipment shops, a fitness centre and a sports facilities, banks, a petrol station, restaurants and a cultural centre.

The marina will also crucially have ferryboat management for cruises to the Greek islands of Kalimnos, Kos and Leros, as well a customs post, pot authority facilities, a passport control unit. Didim D-Marina is being built on a build-operate-transfer for 25 years by Doğuş Group, one of Turkey's leading construction companies.