Ly Son-Sa Huynh Geopark Project
Dang Van Minh, chairman of Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee, announced the decision on April 7.
"The result of the project are unclear so I personally agree to end it," he said.
After five years, the project has consumed over VND20bn. According to Minh, everything had been done legally.Ly Son-Sa Huynh Geopark Project was started in 2015 under the name of Binh Chau-Ly Son Geopark. Quang Ngai wanted to seek recognition for Ly Son-Sa Huynh Geopark as a member of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network, which was hoped to help develop sustainable tourism for the province. It was a key project in the provincial socio-economic development plan.
In 2017, the Management Board of Ly Son-Sa Huynh Geopark was set up. For over three years, it has collaborated with the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources and foreign experts to conduct field surveys to evaluate the area’s geological heritages. Many conferences were held about the park, attracting hundreds of experts from inside and outside of Vietnam.
In 2019, the management board concluded that Ly Son and nearby areas were too small to be a geopark. They proposed to increase the geopark’s area to 4,600 square kilometres, including 2,000 km2 on land and 2,600 km2 of water surface.
The geopark dossier was submitted to UNESCO in the same year and passed the preliminary round. A ballot was supposed to be held in South Korea in 2020 but had to be postponed due to Covid-19.
