A Bangladeshi filmmaker today unveiled an inventive, if expensive, solution to his country's lack of iconic tourist destinations: just copy someone else's.

Using 160kg of bronze, marble and granite from Italy and diamonds from Belgium, Ahsanullah Moni has reproduced a full-scale replica of the Taj Mahal 18 miles north-east of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka. He said that Bangladeshis could not "afford to go to Agra to see the Taj, so I am bringing the Taj to them".

Moni says the replica of Taj Mahal, which covers an area of four acres, is part of a 4bn taka (£39m) film city which he will use as a giant movie set.

Almost 40% of Bangladesh's 142 million people, the majority of which are Muslim, live below the official poverty line.

"I am doing this only for the poor. They cannot travel. They cannot see this historical wonder," said Moni. "I also hope the landmark construction can attract more tourists from home and abroad."

Bangladesh is not a haven for tourists. Less than a tenth of a per cent of visitors to the Asia-Pacific region stop there.

The director, who also owns a studio and cinema, first saw the Taj Mahal in 1980 and travelled back six times to see how he might "rebuild it in Bangladesh". In the end he sent his architects to measure the dimensions of the original building and brought back Indian technicians to help him recreate one of the "wonders of the world".

India's Taj Mahal is considered the high point of Mughal architecture, described as by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore as "a tear on the face of eternity". It was built over two decades in the 17th century by heartbroken Moghul emperor Shah Jahan, in memory of his beloved second wife who died during childbirth.