A PGA branded golf course and golf academy are to be the centrepiece of a multi-million pound sports venture in Tunisia. The link up with Tunis Sports City was formally announced in the Tunisian capital.

Tunis Sports City is the PGA's first steps into mainland Africa and it will join an expanding portfolio of branded facilities around the world. The course, which will be designed by Harradine Golf, will be branded ‘Jardin de Tunis, a PGA Golf Course’ and will stand alongside the proposed ‘PGA Academie de Golf’.

It is expected the course will be operational by 2010 with the aim of growing the game in the region and as a tourist destination.

The golf facilities will be part of a first-class sporting and residential complex in the heart of the city that will also feature an aquatic academy, soccer academy and hockey academy as well luxury homes, a hotel, shopping mall and a range of commercial and public buildings.

Other sporting partners in the project include OM Consulting (an arm of Olympique de Marseilles), the American Swimming Coaches Association and the International Hockey Federation.

The project is being masterminded by the UAE-based company Bukhatir Group, which has an established track-record as being one of the developers in the flagship project Dubai Sports City and Hercules International Sports in Tangier, Morocco.

Robert Maxfield, PGA property & commercial director, said, "We believe the facilities at the Tunis Sports City will be second to none and we are very proud that the facility carries the PGA brand and we are looking forward to working with the team at Bukhatir Group to bring world class coaching and the game of golf to Tunis.

"We are equally delighted to be a part of the development of the game in Tunisia through the Tunis Sports City. Tunisia does not have many golf facilities and we look forward to introducing people of all abilities and ages from Tunisia and the wider region to the game."

The Tunis Sports City branded facilities will join an elite group of PGA branded golf facilities, including The Belfry, host to an unprecedented four Ryder Cups and the headquarters of the PGA, the world-famous Gleneagles, the award-winning Beijing No 9 in China and Roda Golf & Beach Resort in Spain.