Hanoi to inspect four golf-course projects

Of 19 golf course projects in Hanoi, four projects that would claim large areas of rice field and crop area have been singled out for special investigation.
The latest statistics show that the total area for 19 golf projects in the expanded Hanoi (eight in the old Hanoi, 10 in the former Ha Tay and one in Me Linh district), is 6,690 hectares. Of the area, around 450 hectares is rice field, 1300 hectares ponds and lakes, and the remaining forest, hill or fallow land.
Based on the principle “maximally restricting the use of rice land to build golf courses,” Hanoi authorities plan to down-size or reject some golf course projects that cover large areas of crop land to ensure food security.
The four golf projects that will be checked and amended are located in Ha Tay and Me Linh. Two of them would occupy large areas of rice field and two would devour large areas of farm land.
The first is the Tuan Chau entertainment centre and ecological tourism zone, which was licenced by the previous Ha Tay province in 2007. This project is to be located in Sai Son commune, Quoc Oai district, covering 198.2 hectares of land. Most of the area is rice field.
The second one is the Temple Lake Golf & Resort project, invested in by the Mutual Saving Bank and some Korean companies. This project was also licenced by the previous Ha Tay province in late 2006. This project needs 128.72 ha of land, including 97.5 ha of agricultural land.
Another controversial project is the Tan Vien international tourism zone in Ba Vi district, which claims up to 1204 ha, including 730ha of ponds and lakes, 183 ha of islands in Suoi Hai Lake and 291.5 ha of lake shore.
This project is divided into two phases. In the first phase, an 18-hole golf course, hotels, clubs and villas are scheduled to be built on 158.3 ha on almost all the islands in Suoi Hai Lake. In the second phase, another golf course, clubs, hotels and entertainment zone are to be built on around 1050 ha of land, including 291 ha of chicken farms, 68 ha of a breeding cow farm named Mondaca and the surface of Suoi Hai Lake.
The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) on June 16, 2009 announced it would not invest in this project but Ba Vi District authorities still asked the Hanoi government to call for investment for this project to help to “develop the economy of a poor district”.
Another golf course that would cover 120 ha of seedling farms is the Ho Cam Quynh entertainment zone in Ba Vi district. This project needs 254.4 ha of land, including 60 ha of water surface, the remaining area being forest land and the land of seedling farms.
The investor, the Toan Cau Assets Management and Investment JS Company, plans to build a 36-hole golf course, a resort, a hotel and an entertainment zone in this area, at a total cost of $68 million.
However, the Soc Son international golf course project, which will utilise 86 ha of agricultural land, is named among key projects to celebrate the 1000th Thang Long – Hanoi anniversary.