Khanh Hoa to take away university project from Dewan

February 25, 2016 | 16:57
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On February 23, the management authority in the south-central coastal province of Khanh Hoa met leaders from diverse government agencies to decide the fate of Khanh Hoa University, the implementation of which was assigned to Dewan Projects JSC, a subsidiary of Indian Dewan Corporation.

According to the provincial leaders, as the project developer has proven to be lacking the financial capacity to execute the project, firstly the province will check up the project before compiling the necessary liquidation procedures to take it back.

Earlier in November 2014, the Khanh Hoa People’s Committee granted the investment certificate for Dewan Projects to build Nha Trang Teacher Training College, with an orientation to be turned into Nha Trang University.

Accordingly, with the chartered capital of $5.5 million, the developer will build the new campus of Nha Trang Teacher Training College on a 10.43ha area in Nha Trang city’s Vinh Luong commune. The total investment capital of the project surpasses VND1.01 trillion ($46.6 million) and will be conducted under a build-transfer (BT) format.

To help the investor facilitate the BT project, Khanh Hoa provided a more than 2.2ha land plot with three street fronts in a Nha Trang city’s golden location, belonging to pre-existing Nha Trang Teacher Training College, to Dewan Projects.

In this location, the developer plans to implement its $300 million Monarch Centre Development project, consisting of two five-star and six four-star hotels.

The company, however, failed to realise its required chartered capital contribution commitment. In July 2015, Khanh Hoa People’s Committee decided on revoking the projects developed by Dewan Corporation’s Vietnam-based units due to their financial inability.

As for the Khanh Hoa University building project, the provincial management extended the capital contribution deadline by 30 days. However, proving unable to muster the necessary finances, Dewan Projects once again defaulted on its promises.

In November 2015, after numerous warnings, the provincial Department of Planning and Investment fined the company VND15 million ($700) for breaking the commitment.

Regarding the case, Tran Hoa Nam, director of Khanh Hoa Department of Planning and Investment, said that Dewan Projects had issued a document proposing to contribute $1 million of the project’s chartered capital first, promising to put forward the remaining $4.4 million after the signing of the BT contract between the company and the province, reported newswire dddn.com.vn.

However, until now, the firm has yet to make any capital contributions as per the commitment.

Earlier, the Khanh Hoa management authority revoked the investment certificate of the billion-dollar Phoenix Beach project, developed by Dewan International Vietnam, another subsidiary of Dewan Corporation, on account of strongly voiced public concerns that the new development might affect the public’s access to the beach.

By By Anh Duc

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