Entertainment project to be probed for covering Nha Trang Bay in Vietnam

Tran Son Hai, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Saturday that competent agencies will look closely into a rule-breaking recreation-sports complex called Nha Trang Sao, which stretches along the beach in Vinh Tho Ward, Nha Trang City.

Nha Trang is the capital of Khanh Hoa.

The inspection would follow mounting public protests that the project developer has been scooping up coral before dumping rubble in a bid to reclaim a substantial part of the sea surface of Nha Trang Bay, a national attraction that is supposed to be kept intact.

Hai added that an earlier inspection had exposed the investor’s infringements, but the rule breaker would not rectify their wrongs and will thus be sternly penalized this time.

Also on Saturday, Mai Van Thang, deputy head of the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment, divulged that the local inspectorate have looked closely into the project developer’s compliance with rules on natural resources and environmental protection, but they have yet to arrive at any conclusion.

The current construction site belongs to Hon Chong-Hon Do Islets, considered national relics.

To make matters worse, the Nha Trang Sao project investor finished building an illegal seafood restaurant called Ocean Seafood Village early this year.

The Khanh Hoa People’s Committee then demanded the investor stop the infringement, but they have defiantly run the restaurant without being punished.

Ngo Phi Hung, board chair and general director of Nha Trang Sao Joint Stock Corp, which is the project investor, admitted to filling up a stretch spanning dozens of meters in Nha Trang Bay.

But Hung further explained that it is for building temporary dykes and roads for trucks to carry construction materials to the work site.

He claimed the entire volume of rubble will be removed from the bay upon the project’s completion.

Hung also said that the project, which is supposed to reverse pollution impacts on the water, involves dead coral removal and piling sand to create a man-made beach.

He asserted that the project had been approved by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Hung acknowledged wrongdoing regarding the construction of the seafood restaurant, adding his company removed the restaurant’s sign on Saturday.

The Nha Trang Sao project, to stretch over a total area of 103,000 square meters, consisting of more than 44,000 and 59,000 square meters on land and sea surface respectively, broke ground in October 2014.

Land facilities comprise a park, a hotel, cafés, a speedboat wharf, aquatic sports areas and bathing sections, while coastal underground structures encompass areas offering recreation and cuisine services, a restaurant, a bar, karaoke and spa parlors, and a discotheque.