Kelantan has announced plans to construct a kite-shaped island in a tourism project worth hundreds of millions of dollars, a report said today.

The ambitious project is reminiscent of the palmtree-shaped islands being constructed off the coast of wealthy Dubai (left).

Kelantan, one of Malaysia's poorest states, is hoping to attract visitors who often only use the state as a transit point into neighbouring Thailand, the New Straits Times reported.

"We are now turning the state into a top tourist destination," the chair of Kelantan's tourism committee, Anuar Tan Abdullah, was quoted as saying.

RM3 billion investment

Kelantan is hoping to win local and foreign investment worth RM3 billion to fund the project, which will see the island constructed three kilometres off its northern coast.

Kelantan is famous for its giant ornate kites, and the 1,000-hectare island will take the form of a T-shaped Wau kite.

The island will have an 18-hole golf course, hotels and parks, and tourists will be transported to it on a 16-minute hovercraft ride, said Anuar.

The only state to be ruled by the opposition PAS, Kelantan's economy is based predominantly on agriculture.