TAIPEI (Reuters Life!) - A Taiwan county known for its garish suburban sprawl is planning an ambitious coastal amusement resort modeled on Dubai's waterfront with odd-shaped high-rises and hotels, a top official said on Wednesday.

Central government authorities have given a verbal nod to the 372 hectare (930 acre) Integrated Family Resort on vacant public land along the coast north of Taipei, Taipei County Magistrate Chou Hsi-wei said.

Bidding will begin next year, he said, and construction should take three years.

"It's bigger than Disneyland, a lot bigger. It's a huge, huge place," Chou told Reuters in an interview after returning from Las Vegas to talk with four hotel firms about investing. "Only like this can you get international tourists to come."

The project is expected to cost at least T$10 billion ($328 million).

A promotional video for the park shows high-rises, including hotels and exhibition spaces, shaped like balls, eggs and blow-up inner tubes for tires.

Some resemble skyscrapers along the waterfront in Dubai, which Chou described as a model for his project. Developers in the fast-growing United Arab Emirates city are adding new islands, channels and gleaming high-rises to the coastline.

Distinct architectural themes, such as Japanese or Thai, will dominate different tracts of the Taiwan resort along with matching restaurants and botanical gardens, Chou said.

Typhoons regularly pound Taiwan with high winds and giant seas. But the resort will be on the leeward side of the island, meaning it will be relatively protected from typhoons.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by David Fogarty)