Ninh Thuan feels the winds of change

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Syrena Vietnam, a subsidiary of private BIM Group, is now waiting the approval of the Ninh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee for the construction of a luxury resort and residential complex in the province’s Vinh Hy area.

According to the provincial committee, the developer plans to invest around $80 million in the project comprising of a five-star resort, 60 pool villas, 40 guest pavilions, restaurants, sport and entertainment facilities. The project covers an area of 66 hectares and Syrena claims it will complete the project construction within 36 months following as of receiving the investment certificate.

This is Syrena’s second resort and residential complex in Vietnam. The company confirmed it had selected Ninh Thuan because of its largely unspoilt natural environment and pristine beaches.

Ninh Thuan is located some 350 kilometres north of Ho Chi Minh City and is currently one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. Four years ago, Hong Kong’s Polo Beach International Limited proposed to develop a $4.5 billion Mui Dinh tourism complex in the province, comprising resorts, a casino, villas, a golf course and other entertainment facilities. However, at that time the Vietnamese government did not approve the project because it comprised the development of a casino.

In the future, the province may become a new tourism destination thanks to the construction of resorts similar to that proposed by the Syrena project.

Ambitious plans

Five years ago, the provincial people’s committee commissioned the United States-based strategy consulting firm Monitor Group, and the United Kingdom’s planning and consulting firm Arup, to draft a provincial master plan up to 2020 with a vision to 2030. This was the first time a province had hired foreign firms to develop socio-economic plans.

According to the plan, the province’s economy will grow from 15-20 per cent during 2010-2020, pushing the average income per capital from $550 to $2,800 by 2020. Four zones have been defined for the provincial socio-economic development. The north of the province has been zoned for tourism development. Clean manufacturing industries and clean energy will be developed in the south, while the agriculture and forestry sector is developed in the province’s mountainous areas. The coastal delta will develop urban projects and the service sector.

Taken overall, the plan envisages Ninh Thuan developing based on a green economy, focusing on salt processing, food processing and renewable energy. The development strategy will provide ample investment opportunities for both domestic and foreign investors. Although the levels of investments attracted to the province remains modest because of the poor existing infrastructure network, the local authorities expect more attention from investors in the future thanks to the improving transportation system that connects Ninh Thuan with surrounding provinces.

The province is currently calling for investment capital into 70 projects across tourism, food processing and energy. Monitor and Arup estimated that the total required social investment capital within next ten years would be around $13.6 billion. That means the province will need about $1.3 billion a year on average in terms of investment attraction.

Energy

Ninh Thuan is said to be an ideal base for developing wind farms. According to the report of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the province boasts an ideal 6.5-9 metre per second gust of wind. Last year, the MoIT approved a wind power development plan in Ninh Thuan, boosting that the total wind power generation capacity in the province by the end of this year would reach 90 megawatts, and 220MW by 2020.

In addition, preparations are underway to build two nuclear power plants in Ninh Thuan with the combined generation capacity of 4,000MW, expected to start operating by 2026.

Because of its huge wind power potential, domestic and foreign investors are flocking to the province to register wind farms. So far, 12 investors have gained in principal approval to study wind power investments in Ninh Thuan, with five already having received investment certificates.

Among them, Belgium’s Enfinity Asia Pacific Limited secured an investment certificate for building a $251 million wind farm in March 2011. Covering an area of 553ha in Thuan Nam and Ninh Phuoc districts, Enfinity’s project has the total generation capacity of around 124.5MW. This is one of the largest wind power projects in Vietnam.

This week, Ninh Thuan will also approve the location for another new wind power project, invested in by a joint venture between TVS Company and Singapore’s The Blue Circle Company.