Bac Ninh’s golf course swing

Bac Ninh People’s Committee has just submitted a proposal to the government to add Hap Linh golf course into the Golf Course Development Plan of Vietnam to 2020.

Vu Duc Quyet, director of Bac Ninh Industrial Zone Management Board - in charge of the project’s management, told VIR there was a real need for entertainment facilities to serve foreign and high-end customers in this northern province. Bac Ninh is home to many projects invested by high-profile foreign companies like Canon, Foxconn, Orion and Samsung with 1,000 foreigners working in the area.

“They require us to have entertainment facilities as they face traffic jams when travelling to Hanoi for leisure during the weekend. Our mission is to keep them in the province in the coming time,” Quyet said.

Hap Linh is one of the two golf course projects which Bac Ninh cancelled following the government’s decision in 2009 to axe unnecessary golf course projects.

“In recent years, we [province] have been focusing on promoting industrial production. Now we must plan facilities to serve the industrial investors,” he said.

The golf course will be combined with a residential area for foreigners. Located in Tien Du district’s Hap Linh commune, the 200 hectare project would need more than $100 million investment capital. “We will give the project to a domestic investor who  could call on other foreign and domestic investors to join,” Quyet said.

He said the province believed this project would not face difficulties in mobilising investment capital.

According to the nation’s golf course development plan to 2020 approved in November 2009, by 2020 Vietnam will have 98 golf courses, out of 166 projects approved by local authorities previously.

Bac Ninh is one of the two provinces which cancelled all of its proposed golf course projects. The other province is Thai Nguyen with one project. Other localities such as Hanoi, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Quang Ninh, Thua Thien-Hue, Long An and Quang Nam have reduced the number of their golf course projects.