ITC Spectrum enters last chance saloon

Land clearance issues have blighted many big development projects

Man Ngoc Ly, director of Binh Dinh Provincial Economic Zone Management Authority, told VIR that the investor and local authorities had completed negotiations with residents for clearing the site of $250 million Vinh Hoi resort project and ITC Spectrum LLC had to transfer $1.04 million for land compensation before December 31, 2012.

“This is the deadline for the investor to transfer money. If it doesn’t transfer, we will withdraw the project’s investment certificate,” Ly said, adding that the provincial authority had the right to end this project as governmental Decree 69/2009/ND-CP regulates investors have to pay land compensation in advance.

ITC Spectrum LLC is developing Vinh Hoi resort project, covering 325 hectares, through a wholly-owned subsidiary Vietnamese-American Hotel and Resort Limited Company. In 2010, Marriott International signed a management agreement with the  developer to manage the project under two luxury hotel brands including Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott.

According to Marriott International, the project will be an oceanfront, fully-integrated, mixed-use development including three resorts, a championship 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones II, residential villas, a retail village, an arboretum and other recreational amenities.

However, the construction of this project, licenced in 2007, has never begun due to site-clearance difficulties. Last month, the Vietnamese government agreed to extend lifetime of this project to 55 years from 50 to compensate for time delays caused by these difficulties.

“We completed negotiations with residents to clear site. So we want the investor to implement a commitment to advance land compensation soon,” said Ly.

Previously, Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee had ordered the investor to advance $1.04 million before October 31, 2012 or the provincial committee with revoke investment certificate of this project. But the investor last week asked the government to extend deadline to the end of this year and this petition was approved.

“They said they had some procedure issues to transfer money at this time, and we accepted this reason,” said Ly.

Tran Duc Canh, general director of Vietnamese-American Hotel and Resort Limited Company, declined to comment when contacted by VIR.

The $1.04 million sought now is just a part of total compensation cost that the US investor is expected to pay in advance. Ly said total cost was estimated at $6.25 million, and the remaining would  be paid in next steps.