This is the key project that the city government expected to help change the city’s face and to turn it into a new "Silicon Valley" of Vietnam, which is in the same model of the US Silicon Valley and the Hsinchu high-tech park of Taiwan.

The project officially started on April 6, 2013, on 341 hectares of land in Hoa Lien commune of Hoa Vang district. The investor was a well-known group - Rocky Lai & Associates, Inc. with a total investment of up to $278 million.

According to the original design, in phase I the project would be implemented on an area of 131 hectares in 4 years (2013-2017), with a total capital of $82 million. In phase 2, the project would be expanded on 210 hectares in 6 years (2017-2023), with $196 million. Rocky Lai & Associates, Inc. would invest in technical infrastructure and KDDI Corporation of Japan would develop the information technology infrastructure up to international standards.

When the project kicked off two years ago, a broad and bright picture was drawn: The park would lure about 100 companies, of which 5% would be large enterprises and 95 % small and medium firms; create 25,000 jobs and revenue of around $3 billion/year; and attract top scientists, engineers and experts in information technology and high technology at home and abroad, particularly overseas Vietnamese.

However, many problems of the investor were revealed. One year after the project was kicked off, the investor did not start construction even though the local authorities spent VND50 billion ($2.5 million) for site clearance.

The broken dream

In July 2015, the People’s Council of Da Nang decided to revoke the project because it could not wait any longer. Many deputies said the agency that had assessed the investment ability of Rocky Lai & Associates, Inc. must take responsibility for this.

Pham Kim Son, Director of the Department of Information and Communications, said from the outset, all related agencies in the city tried their best to support this project. In early 2014, it was found that Rocky Lai & Associates, Inc. had financial problems. Paul Ta, one of the two main shareholders of the project, wanted to find another financial investor to replace Mr. Rocky Lai.

According to Son, Paul Ta sought other investors, including the Trung Nam Group, which pledged to spend VND126 billion ($6 million) to cover the debts of Rocky Lai, and was willing to spend VND300 billion (nearly $15 million) to complete the infrastructure in phase I.

However, it was difficult for Trung Nam to realize its commitments because it now is involved in many big estate projects, which are being implemented at a low pace, including the $1.67 billion Golden Hills Ecological Urban project in Lien Chieu District - Da Nang and the $180 million twin towers Vien Dong Meridian in Hai Chau district.

In this situation, Da Nang Party Secretary Tran Tho said that the city tried its best to help the investor, and even spent $2.5 million for site clearance, so if Rocky Lai was unable to implement this project, it would withdraw and repay the above amount of money for Da Nang.

Tho confirmed that Rocky Lai Group could not transfer this project to other investors. He asked relevant agencies to drastically revoke the project under the Resolution of the Da Nang People’s Committee.

Dau Tu