VietNamNet Bridge – Under the national golf course development plan to 2020, HCM City has granted investment licenses to five golf course projects, but four of them have not been implemented.



Of the five projects, only the 300-ha Lam Vien golf course in District 9 has been put into operation, Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper reported.


The four other projects are the 139-ha An Phu golf course in District 2, the 200-ha GS golf course in Cu Chi District, the 157-ha Tan Son Nhat airport golf course project in Tan Binh District and the 300-ha Sing Viet project in Binh Chanh District.


After nearly 10 years since it received its investment license, the 139-ha An Phu golf course project of the Sai Gon Investment and Development Joint Stock Co (SDI) has completed only 109 ha of 139 ha of land compensation, according to the latest report of the City People's Committee.


Under the approval of land compensation in 2003, the compensation price for agricultural land at the An Phu golf course project was VND150,000-200,000 a sq.m.


But after several complaints from affected households, the SDI agreed to increase the price to VND870,000 a sq.m, according to the District 2 Land Compensation Board.


Speaking with Dau Tu, a resident whose land is located in the golf-course project said this price was still lower, compared to the compensation prices of VND1.5 million for each sq.m of several public projects in District 2.


Many households affected by the project have sent their complaints to agencies.


The HCM City People's Court has cancelled several administrative decisions of District 2 because their regulations on land compensation for the project did not follow the law.

Similarly, the Sing Viet golf course project of Sing Viet Urban Ltd Co in the Sing Viet Urban Area in Le Minh Xuan Commune, which received an investment licence in 1996, has not completed land compensation.


The Binh Chanh District has given compensation to 303 households whose agricultural land was affected by the Sing Viet golf course project.


Of that figure, 213 households received compensation with a total amount of VND318 billion; the remaining 90 households have not agreed with the compensation policies.


Nguyen Van Hong, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said the city People's Committee asked the Department of Planning and Investment to review the capacity of the investor of the Sing Viet golf course project and the Sing Viet Urban Area.


"If the investor cannot guarantee progress of these projects outlined in their licences, then the licences will be revoked," Hong said.


The city People's Committee has recently ordered that districts, departments and agencies pay special attention to golf course projects and require investors to ensure the implementation progress of their projects in accordance with the requirements of their investment licences.

Investors who violate the implementation progress would be revoked land and investment licences, according to the city's People's Committee.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News