VietNamNet Bridge – Economists have suggested developing Ly Son Island District into a high-end amusement center with 5-star hotels and a casino.

Ly Son Island.

On September 28, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung initiated the building of a 27 kilometer underground cable connecting Ly Son Island to the national electricity grid.

The electricity from the national grid on the island will pave the way for a series of investment projects as part of the island’s socio-economic development strategy.

Ly Son has an illustrious history and is well-known for protecting the nation’s sovereignty on the Hoang Sa archipelago. It is located on an important front position, and plays a very important role in national defence and national maritime security.

However, it remains poor with 25 per cent of households officially poor. This is higher than the nation’s average of 7 percent. The local people encountered more difficulties when China illegally deployed an oil rig in Vietnamese territorial waters and hindered their fishing activities.

However, Ly Son will be different in the future as economists have gathered to discuss solutions to develop the island.

Dr. Tran Du Lich, the leader of the consultancy team on developing the central coastal provinces, said powerful investors will be selected by the Quang Ngai provincial authorities as developers of projects on building a high-end amusement center in An Binh island commune.

Lich stressed that the development of small-scale projects should not be accepted on the island in order to avoid land waste.

He went on to say that the State should be the first investor in the island by developing infrastructure items, including clean water supply projects. In the immediate time, it should think of pumping sand into the island to enlarge the island area. This would help attract more investors to the island, where they can inject money into service and tourism projects.

Meanwhile, the chair of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) Tran Bac Ha, has suggested building a civil airport and a hovercraft park.

“It is necessary to program use of the 96 hectares of An Binh island commune into a high-end tourism center with 5-star hotels and casino, which would attract long-stay tourists,” Ha said. “I do believe that Ly Son will become a ‘gold island’ in the central region in the future.”

An Binh island commune is one of three communes of Ly Son island district. Located 3.5 miles far from Ly Son Island, An Binh, or Be Island, covers an area of 96 hectares, where 112 households with 500 residents live and grow garlic and fish.

Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, head of the Vietnam Economics Institute, thinks that Vietnam needs to make appropriate investments to develop modern agriculture, ecotourism on Ly Son, and a fishing fleet powerful enough to cope with civil conflicts on the sea.