Golf course near airport gets thumbs up

A 1/500 scale blueprint for a 157ha golf course located in HCM City's Tan Son Nhat International Airport has been approved by the People's Committee of Tan Binh District.
The Tan Son Nhat Golf Course Project will cover over 132ha, including 111ha for a 36-hole golf course, a 14.7ha lake, a 3ha golf club, and a 2.6ha golf driving range.
According to Tan Binh District authorities, the project also includes hotels and restaurants covering nearly 7ha, 3ha for schools, 9.7ha for villas and apartments for lease, and 7.8ha for roads.
All these facilities will be located within the 820ha Tan Son Nhat Airport area which is managed by the Defence Ministry.
Tran Van Tinh, deputy chairman of Long Bien Investment JSC, developer of the Tan Son Nhat Golf Course Project, said the project was initiated in 2006 and approved by Government a year later.
Construction of the golf course project, awarded a 50-year lease, has begun and is scheduled for completion in mid-2013, he added.
Tinh told the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the $300 million investment in this project aims to effectively exploit the plot of land in a prime location that has been "left unoccupied for several years".
He said the golf course project will create more greenery for HCM City.
"The project will also help attract more tourists and offer more entertainment facilities for businesspeople as well as visitors to HCM City," Tinh said.
The project, which is expected to create 500 jobs, would also add revenues for HCM City, he added.
To better serve golf players, the golf course must provide supporting services, including accommodation and entertainment services. The project will, therefore, include 54 villas, 1,000 apartments and a five-star hotel, "all for lease, not for sale," said Tinh.
Schools to be built in the area will admit not only tenants of the project but also residents in surrounding areas, he said.
Tinh said a feasibility study for the project, which is located in a "sensitive" area, had lasted several years.
The developer of the project had collected suggestions from related agencies including the Defence Ministry, Tan Son Nhat Airport Authority and relevant authorities in HCM City, he said.
"We would like to affirm that the implementation and the operation of the project will not affect safety or the operation of Tan Son Nhat International Airport," Tinh was quoted by Tuoi Tre as saying.
In addition to the inner roads, the Long Bien JSC has proposed the construction of two new roads. One, 3km long, will run parallel to Quang Trung Street and link the Truong Son Intersection in Tan Binh District with Tan Son Street in Go Vap District; and the other, 500m long, will connect the Tan Son and Pham Van Bach streets.
The new roads will help ease traffic pressure on Quang Trung Street, Tinh said.