Vung Tau Paradise Resort lowers criteria for new investors

The unfinished amusement park of the project

Notably, after failing to call for investors to Vung Tau Paradise Resort with overly strict criteria, the Ba Ria-Vung Tau People’s Committee has decided to lower expectations to find new investors to complete the unfinished segments of the project.

Accordingly, instead of asking the investors to pour at least $2 billion into the project (at least 25 per cent of which would need to be equity), investors are now required to invest at least $1 billion into the project, excluding expenses for site clearance and land rental, with at least 15 per cent of these funds coming from the investors’ equity. Furthermore, investors have to commit to paying land rental fees at once.

Besides, investors are permitted to propose the duration for developing the projects instead of the three years that was previously set.

According to the local authorities’ requirements, the new investors will have to turn Vung Tau Paradise into a high-end amusement, tourism, and resort complex, including a 27-hole golf course meeting international standards, a shopping centre, a conference centre, a five-star hotel, spa, and the highlight amusement park.

In 1991 Vung Tau Paradise Company, a joint venture between Vietnamese Vung Tau Intourco Resort JSC and Taiwanese Paradise Development and Investment, was granted the investment certificate to develop the project with the total estimated investment capital of $97.2 million.

However, since coming into operation in 1995 with poor infrastructure featuring a 27-hole golf course and a housing area with only 54 units, the resort has not only not made any profit but went straight into the red.

The firm also failed to make good on its commitments to construct several of the designed components, including a 500-room hotel, a theatre, and an entertainment playground.

At the end of April 2015, the investment certificate of the investor expired, thus, the local authorities decided to call for new investors.