Document No. 5983/UBND.CN on the implementation of the Golf course, hotel and villa complex project in Nghi Huong ward, Cua Lo town was issued by the Provincial People's Committee on August 8, 2022. The main content of this document is that the Provincial People's Committee directs relevant Departments, branches and localities to advise on adjusting the progress of the Golf course, hotel and villa complex project of Cua Lo Sea Golf Joint Stock Company.
This project has many outstanding features so it is not too unfamiliar to people in the province; that is: The first project in Nghe An to build a Golf course; is a project with a huge "planning" scale, up to more than 132 hectares in Cua Lo town, the total area is only 28km22; is a project that has received special attention from the press and social networks… But even so, the sport of Golf is somewhat unsuitable for the economic capacity of the majority, so not many people have visited this project.
Journalism has made us pass by here many times, but we have never stopped by. So when we approached Document No. 5983/UBND.CN, we curiously "typed" on Google to search for information. A matrix of conflicting information appeared. There were some critical articles, such as the project is 15 years old, more than 6 years ahead of schedule, but the investor is slow to implement the construction items. But countless articles, including in newspapers and electronic information pages, gave the project compliments.
Here is a quote from some articles: “Cua Lo Golf Resort is a miniature coastal city, combining sports, swimming, relaxation and eco-tourism. This is an ideal stopover for those who love golf - a noble sport and want to enjoy a perfect high-class life by the sea. In the overall planning of Cua Lo Golf, there will be a 5-star hotel and a 3-star hotel, more than 700 rooms equipped with luxurious furniture, unique design with a spacious swimming pool, tennis court bringing a wonderful feeling of relaxation mixed with modern relaxation style and endless space ...”.
“The villa area of Cua Lo Golf Course enjoys the wonderful favor of nature. In front of the project is Cua Lo beach, behind is the airy green space of the 18-hole golf course. With a smart planning solution, the villa area is arranged in staggered rows with reasonable distances, bringing liveliness to the common facade and openness to each house. Each house will have a view from both directions. From the sea and from the golf course…”.
“The project owns a “diamond” coordinate with a sea-facing frontage, open space to catch the wind, and inherits the poetic natural scenery and the class of an international standard golf course. The potential for price increase of Cua Lo Golf Resort beach villas is also shown through its central location in the center of Cua Lo, intersecting with major roads, gathering perfect resort services within the area while easily accessing key administrative works of Cua Lo and Vinh city”…
Also thanks to the Google search engine, we know that from the Golf Course, Hotel, and Villa Complex project, there is also the Nguyen Sinh Cung Residential Area project. And this "latecomer" project also has articles introducing it as a "livable area". "Internal traffic within the project with roads planned synchronously according to the wide standards of 11.5 m, 12 m, 30 m with roadside trees, high-quality technical infrastructure creates a green, smart ecological coastal urban space - where people can enjoy the advantages that nature has to offer. Good and complete infrastructure, full of amenities such as parks, kindergartens, sports fields, halls, near markets, near primary, secondary, high schools, kindergartens... All plots of land have permanent red books, you can receive land and build houses immediately...".
Faced with the information mess, he contacted a Department-level official to ask, and he replied: “If the project is behind schedule, the Provincial People’s Committee will direct the Departments, branches, and the People’s Committee of Cua Lo town to advise on adjusting the progress. As for the items that are behind schedule, we should stick to the planning, then go there once to find out…”.
Following the advice of the Department-level official, searching for documents, we found that from November 2006, when Cua Lo Sea Golf Joint Stock Company was granted a Business Registration Certificate by the Department of Planning and Investment until now, the Golf Course, Hotel and Villa Complex project has had its Investment Certificate adjusted 4 times. The last change, on October 7, 2014, the project scale included an 18-hole Golf course; a 5-star hotel with 420 rooms; a 3-star hotel with 300 rooms; 284 villas; a sports and service area and a residential area on Nguyen Sinh Cung Street; the implementation progress was 8 years, from 2007 to 2015.
Regarding the detailed construction planning at a scale of 1/500, the Golf Course, Hotel and Villa Complex project has also been adjusted many times. Notably, the adjustment in 2010, when the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 1698/QD-UBND allowing the investor to implement the Nguyen Sinh Cung Residential Area on an area of more than 17.2 hectares of land previously planned for the implementation of the Auxiliary Works Area, Nursery, and Housing for Officials and Workers; and the most recent adjustment, on January 20, 2021, in Decision 168/QD-UBND.
Following the adjusted planning in Decision 168/QD-UBND, we visited the Sports and Service Area, located on the East side of Binh Minh Street. Surprisingly, although we were assigned to manage and use up to 1km of beach, with a beautiful long sandbank and endless green casuarina trees, we could not find any trace of the so-called "Sports and Service Area". On the area of more than 12 hectares of this beach, it was almost deserted, with only one restaurant with a modest construction investment scale called "Bien Ngoc".
Using a flycam to observe the entire Golf Course Complex, hotel, villas, it can be seen that the internal traffic system is basically complete. In addition, the Golf Course Complex has been implemented with lawns, trees, lakes, and auxiliary works creating a quite eye-catching landscape. The system of 284 villas arranged along the roads, surrounding the Golf Course area has only been built by the investor in 2 areas, with 16 units. The chain of two 5-star and 3-star hotels with a scale of 40 floors and 18 floors, squares... have not been built yet.
To observe directly, we went through the large gate along Binh Minh Street into the Golf Course, Hotel and Villa Complex. Here, the scene was more gloomy. Only at the Golf Course Complex, perhaps due to the efficiency in business exploitation, the investor paid attention to implementation; but the land areas planned to arrange hotels and villas are mostly in a state of abandonment. On some roads leading to the land areas where these projects were carried out, there was a state of degradation. In the land areas, the only thing that existed on it was weeds. Even at the two clusters of works with the presence of 16 villas, although designed and built quite impressively and eye-catching, they seemed to be little exploited and used, so they looked like abandoned houses, with gardens full of fallen leaves and grass.
With the residential area on Nguyen Sinh Cung street, separated from the Golf course complex, hotel, villa by a 30m wide, quite beautiful planned road invested and built by the People's Committee of Cua Lo town. This residential area, to the North adjacent to Nguyen Sinh Cung street, to the East adjacent to Nguyen Hue street, so in terms of location, it deserves to be called the center of Cua Lo coastal urban area. But the social works items in the planning such as sports and recreation area, kindergarten, cultural house, commercial service area, social housing... have not shown any signs of investment and construction. What already exists on this 17.2ha land area are technical infrastructure such as roads, electricity and digging a lake. However, the quality of the roads is not high, there are sections that have degraded, collapsed, sunken, and peeled off. The lake (described in the planning drawing of the green park and ecological lake complex with an area of over 1.06 hectares) is just an earthen lake filled with water and overgrown with weeds...
From what was seen at the project of Golf Course Complex, Hotel, Villas and Nguyen Sinh Cung Residential Area, learning more, we know that in 2018, the Inspectorate of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment inspected the compliance with the law on land, environmental protection and water resources for Cua Lo Sea Golf Joint Stock Company. In Conclusion No. 256/KL-TTr, the inspector pointed out many shortcomings and violations of the investor in environmental and land protection. It is noteworthy that Cua Lo Sea Golf Joint Stock Company violated the law when transferring the land use rights of 28 plots of land in Nguyen Sinh Cung Residential Area to households and individuals to build houses in the form of dividing plots and selling land when the construction of infrastructure according to the detailed planning approved by competent authorities had not been completed.
“In 2017, the Provincial People's Committee decided to allow the investor to transfer the right to households and individuals to build their own houses in the Nguyen Sinh Cung Residential Area project. However, the condition is that the investor must complete the investment in the construction of green works and infrastructure, including service works and technical infrastructure works. Taking advantage of this decision, although only building the road and power system, the investor has transferred the land use rights to a number of households and individuals. Therefore, the Department Inspectorate has requested the investor to stop the violations and requested state management agencies to strengthen the inspection, examination and supervision of the investor to comply with the provisions of the law…” – an officer of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Inspectorate shared.
Connect with the People's Committee of Cua Lo town to ask about consulting on adjusting the progress of the Golf Course, Hotel and Villa Complex project according to the direction of the Provincial People's Committee in Document No. 5983/UBND.CN. Upon receiving the response, the People's Committee of the town has inspected the project implementation of Cua Lo Sea Golf Joint Stock Company and has worked with the investor. On the part of Cua Lo Sea Golf Joint Stock Company, there is a detailed report on the investment implementation; specifying the unimplemented construction items as well as the reasons for the slow progress. They have also developed a plan for investment phases in the coming time and have committed to completing it... However, this is a project that has a great impact on the planning and renovation of the park area east of Binh Minh Street and urban embellishment, so Cua Lo town must consider it carefully before reporting to the Provincial People's Committee.
“The project of the Golf Course, Hotel, Villa and Residential Area Complex Nguyen Sinh Cung has been behind schedule for many years. Moreover, at this time, Cua Lo town is making efforts to make new breakthroughs to change the urban space, so how to extend the progress for Cua Lo Sea Golf Joint Stock Company is an issue that needs to be considered…” – the representative of the People’s Committee of Cua Lo town discussed./.
