$5bn Heart of Europe project will deliver 2,000 villas, palaces in phase one St. Tropez island, a recreation of the famous French Riviera town, will have 4,000 units spread across 15 hotels DUBAI: The developer behind one of the biggest projects on The World islands development off the coast of Dubai is set to start handing over units to investors in December, it was announced on Monday. Kleindienst Group, which is behind the $5 billion The Heart of Europe project on the manmade island archipelago, will deliver 2,000 villas and palaces as part of phase one of the European-themed development. Construction on the St. Tropez island, which will be a recreation of the famous French Riviera town, will have 4,000 units spread across 15 hotels, with the first half of units delivered to buyers next month. In a statement on Monday, group chairman, Josef Kleindienst, said: “At the beginning of the year, we made a commitment to deliver part of the phase one of The Heart of Europe to the owners by the end of 2020. “Despite the challenges posed by the (coronavirus disease) COVID-19 pandemic, we were determined to go ahead with our planned development and as the lockdown was announced in March, we shifted our entire team to The Heart of Europe islands and continued to construct. “During the lockdown, we were isolated from the mainland and confined to the island and focused on construction.” Kleindienst added that construction had started on phase two of the project which was planned to be completed by 2022.