United Entertainment Partners, which previously promoted the ill-fated Vega City project, has begun demolishing a hotel in the UNESCO-protected Montenegran town of Kotor.

It plans to build a new seven-storey hotel in place of the existing 8,368 sq m complex, for which it paid �?�1.8m, with the modern hotel to be built by British construction company Deerglen Jersey.

This is not the only plan UEP has for Kotor, where it is also preparing to demolish and rebuild another hotel it bought for nearly �?�6m. And Maguire is also keeping busy in Belgrade, where he reportedly plans to build a �?�400m property resort on a 450-acre island in the Danube river.

Maguire turned his attention to the former Yugoslavia after Fingal County Council put the kibosh in 2003 on his plans for the 'Vega City' complex on 2,500 acres of land in north Dublin.

That plan attracted international interest, after the backers of the project said they were prepared to take it elsewhere.

Among the countries to express interest was Serbia.

The Belgrade site was bought for less than �?�10m from the municipal authority of the Serbian capital, and the masterplan is being drawn up in close collaboration with the city authority.

Within the site, 235 acres are being maintained as an eco-zone, where there are plans for a theme park.

Another 146 acres have been zoned for commercial use, and the plan is to develop apartments, hotels and a shopping centre.

Maguire has said he has lined up Irish and Serbian businessmen to develop the island, which is being divided into sites, and that he is offering opportunities for other developers to get involved if they are prepared to spend at least �?�40m.

The plan for the island also envisages building a 300m, four-lane bridge to connect the island with the rest of Belgrade.

A majority of Fingal councillors opposed Maguire's plan for Vega City, and described the plans of the consortium, which was chaired by developer Owen O'Callaghan and had US corporate backing, as "vague" and "sloppy".

The Vega City project was planned to include three theme parks, 300,000 sq m of retail space, 14 hotels, golf courses and 10,000 holiday apartments. The target was to attract 37m visitors by 2014 and employ up to 65,000 people. More than 90 landowners and householders in the area were offered �?�115,000 an acre, while householders were offered twice the market value of their houses.

One of the US corporates prepared to back the project, Oz Central, said at the time that it was prepared to spend up to $1bn on a 'Wizard of Oz' theme park in the Vega development.

Maguire said one of the biggest banks in the world, rumoured to be Citibank, had been prepared to handle the sale of a �?�7bn Vega bond to fund the development.