Life for giant tourism project?

The location is a potential magnet for tourists

Paraplan recently lodged an application to turn the 5,000 hectare Dankia-Suoi Vang area, 12 kilometres north of Dalat downtown, into a high-end resort complex with villas, golf courses, five-star hotels and hospitals.
Nguyen Xuan Kien, director of the Lam Dong Planning and Investment Department, told Vietnam Investment Review that the local government wanted to see Paraplan’s application quickly approved so the investor could begin work before the year’s end.
“The Dankia-Suoi Vang project has been deadlocked for such a long time and we do not want to see this become commonplace in Lam Dong,” Kien said.
Licenced in 1998, an alliance of three Singaporean companies - Natsteel, Jurong Environment and LKN Management Service Ltd in partnership with the local Lam Dong Tourist Company – expected to invest $706 million in the resort.
At that time, the Dankia-Suoi Vang was among a small number of projects that needed to be approved by the National Assembly because the investors had asked to use the land for up to 70 years.
However, seven years after receiving an investment licence, the Singaporean companies announced that they were cancelling the project as a result of the Asian financial crisis.
Kien said Lam Dong authorities and four Japanese heavyweights – Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and Limtec — began discussions on reviving the project in 2005 with an estimated investment capital of $1.2 billion.
The Japanese investors proposed the construction of a “Romantic City” in Dankia-Suoi Vang featuring thousands of villas surrounded by lush gardens, said Kien.
In addition, early this year a French investor sent Lam Dong government leaders a letter of interest concerning the Dankia-Suoi Vang project and pledged to invest 2 billion euros. However, Kien said that both the Japanese alliance and the French firm’s plans had not progressed.
A Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) source, which was being consulted by the Lam Dong government over the issuance of an investment certificate for Paraplan, admitted that the failure of the previous investors was a result of the project’s massive investment requirements and the need for prudent
environmental impact assessments.
“The project will utilise about 4,000 hectares of natural forests, that is a big concern. Under current regulations, any project that wishes to use more than 200ha of natural forests must be ratified by the National Assembly,” he said.
The MPI official also reminded Lam Dong authorities to carefully consider Paraplan’s financial capabilities as the firm was newly-established and its registered assets were significantly lower than the capital needed for the project.
“Prudence is not unnecessary to prevent future failures,” he said, adding that the local government should take its time in selecting the right investors, particularly now that the country was proving attractive to a large number of international companies.