Tallinn's 'Treaure Island'

TALLINN 's- Dubai has them in the shape of a palm tree, the Netherlands is planning them in the shape of tulip and now Tallinn is wondering whether it should get the must-have accessory of the modern nation state 's an artificial island.

On Jan. 8, Tallinn city council announced it would establish a commission to look into building a man-made island in Paljassaare Bay.

A Centrist member of the city council, Mart Sults, made the proposal to study the possibility of such a project last November. As he sees it, an island could be built in the bay west of Paljassaare peninsula in northern Tallinn on which all the city's casino's should be relocated 's a sort of voluntary Alcatraz for high-rollers, in other words.

Sults sees himself as chairman of the future panel. The city government would rather charge the municipal land board to appoint the commission and oversee its work.

The city government also thinks the commission should examine questions of building in the sea more broadly than just for 'casino island'.

According to Sults' idea, the cost of the construction would be borne by casinos and other entertainment institutions settling on the island.

The council member says Tallinn would thus free itself of troublesome gaming halls and they would no longer be an eyesore in the cityscape.

City council chairman Toomas Vitsut suggested in 2004 when he was serving as deputy mayor of Tallinn that all casinos of the capital city be banished to existing Aegna Island.