South Fork Twin Capes faces the chop

November 18, 2010 | 15:30

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United States-bankrolled South Fork Twin Capes, one of Vietnam’s largest theme-park development projects, is facing the axe.

Binh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee has announced it will withdraw the project’s investment certificate unless the developer starts construction before December 25.

Local authorities said that South Fork had failed to meet a construction timeline it pledged late last year.

“The developer was committed to start the project’s construction within five months as of the date when it received 333 hectares of the project’s land in December 2009,” said the local authorities’ statement.

But the developer has done nothing.

“Till December 25, 2010, if South Fork does not start constructing the project, we will issue a decision to terminate the project and reclaim its land,” said a Binh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee document.

The South Fork Twin Capes, licenced in November, 2004 by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, located in the coastal town of Phan Thiet, about 150 kilometres east of Ho Chi Minh City.

It comprises first class ‘theme resorts’, two 18-hole golf courses, villas, and a 6,000 seat conference centre. The project covers an area of 600ha and has registered investment capital of around $50 million.

The total investment inflows into the project, with an aim to attract ‘five-star visitors around the world by transforming Phan Thiet into a world-class resort’, was said to amount to $1 billion mobilised from big US names.

In the past, the project was delayed due to difficulties in site clearance and disputes over the local government’s plan to exploit black sand in the project site.

By Linh Mai

vir.com.vn

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