Up to two-thirds of Vietnam’s 90 golf course projects are also involved in real estate and tourism resorts, according to a Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) report recently submitted to the government for consideration. .
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| Up to two-thirds of Vietnam’s 90 golf course projects are also involved in real estate and tourism resorts |
Under Prime Ministerial Decision 1946 approved in November 2009, Vietnam will limit the number of golf courses operating in the country to 90 by 2020 compared to a previously-planned 166. The decision will earmark the 15,600 hectares of land saved for other uses.
Golf course investments have often fronted wider real estate projects, with only ten percent of the land in the current 90 projects actually used as for the sport. For example, the 2,069 ha Tam Nong Project in Phu Tho Province devotes just 171.6ha to golfing.
Tan Vien International Tourism Resort is located across 1,204 ha, but only 222 ha is used for golf.
The same situation is repeated at Quan Son Ecological Tourism Resort in My Duc District, Hanoi and Tam Chuc Tourism Resort in Ha Nam Province. Of the 90, 46 golf courses that have been licensed face delays due to slow procedures and pace of construction, while many lack suitable detailed planning.
Just 24 projects have entered operation, with five others facing a withdrawal of their licenses.
The MPI also revealed that in addition to the 90 authorised projects, it had discovered 27 golf courses that did not meet approved land use regulations in 13 cities and provinces.
The MPI said that these projects had been licensed prior to Decision 1946, but local authorities had not included the projects in their reports to the MPI, and had therefore been excluded from projects listed in the development plan.
Besides the 27 projects, localities, including Thanh Hoa, Thai Nguyen, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh and Dak Lak, have proposed an additional 12 golf courses.
The Southeast Asian Golf Association was cited by Nhip Cau Dau Tu newspaper? as saying that Vietnamese golf courses only attract around 10,000 players, with half of those being Vietnamese, a very modest figure compared to other regional countries.
Malaysia has 230 golf courses which attract a total 250,000 players and Thailand has 256 golf courses with 500,000 players. Singapore has 14 golf courses, the least in Southeast Asia, but host 55,000 players, five times higher than Vietnam.
Potential solutions
In its report, the MPI outlined three measures related to golf planning for government consideration.
Firstly, the number of golf courses would be restricted to 90 by 2020, with five projects set to be weeded out, in order to be replaced by more viable alternatives.
The second option is allow to an additional 11 golf courses, raising the total number of programmed projects to 96.
The third option is to accept the currently unauthorised projects. If this is the case, the number of golf course projects will increase to 118, which includes 85 planned golf courses and 33 new projects. The ministry said that this would represent an absolute moratorium on the number of golf courses, and no new projects would be accepted.
Earlier, the Prime Minister requested ministries to co-operate with other ministries and agencies to establish a taskforce to inspect golf course planning across the country.
Golf course projects are banned from encroaching on farm and forestry land, and from being used to construct industrial parks and residential urban areas.