Lam Dong curtails golf course

Residents’ complaints and Governmental pressure have prompted the People’s Committee of central Highland Lam Dong Province to cancel four of 10 golf course projects that it had licensed previously.
In a document issued last week, the provincial administration asked district authorities and relevant agencies to conduct an overall review of golf course projects in the province.
It also asked the provincial departments of Planning and Investment, Natural Resources and Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development and Culture, Sports and Tourism to oversee the implementation and progress of the projects after licensing.
Golf course projects which do not begin implementation 12 months after licensing as well as those do not become operational 48 months after that will have their licenses revoked.
District authorities and agencies have also been asked to monitor construction work on licensed golf course projects to ensure that the area is used for projects to support the golf courses’ operations. Construction of housing and other properties for sale has been banned in the areas granted for golf course projects.
According to figures from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of July 2009, the provincial authorities had licensed up to 10 golf course projects which took up 6,551 ha. Local investors are behind six of these projects that have a total registered capital of US$770 million.
But out of these 10, only one, in Da Lat, is up and running. The other nine projects in Bao Lam, Don Duong and Duc Trong districts have only broken ground so far.
Although golf courses take up huge amounts of land and capital, local governments and residents stand to gain little from them.
Under a Government decision issued in November 2009, the country had 89 golf courses with each 18-hole course taking up less than 100 ha by 2020 a reduction from 144 projects totally covering 49,000 ha licenced by the end of June 2009.