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Golf Course get to rice fields, farmers face poverty 30 th July 2008                

In the midst of golf course project fever in many provinces, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung reminded officials that monitoring the licensing of investments and a re-assessment of their efficiency is indispensable.

Viet Nam currently has 141 golf courses projects reserved for 49,300ha of land, including 2,625ha of paddy fields, in 39 provinces and cities. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), between July 2006 and May 2008, after provincial authorities were allowed to license golf course projects, 104 golf courses were approved. That’s more than one golf course project license per week.

The southern province of Long An has given out 18 licences, including five for Can Giuoc District’s Long Hau Commune. If all the projects in Can Giuoc District went ahead, 3,200 ha of land would be claimed. Local farmers would only be compensated VND35,000, worth less than 3kg of rice, for each square metre of land.

Still, the compensation rate in Long An’s Can Giuoc is higher than in Da Nang’s Ngu Hanh Son District, only VND28,000 per sq.m. Few local farmers benefit from these projects, while thousands lose their means of livelihood along with their land.

Most of arable land in Lam Son Commune of Hoa Binh Province’s Luong Son District was reclaimed for the Phuong Hoang Tourism Park and Golf Course, creating thousands of landless and jobless farmers in the process. An official from the Hoa Binh Department of Planning and Investment, who declined to be named, said 20 per cent of households affected by the project spent most of the money they received as compensation in a few months, and have fell into poverty. Less than 20 of those people are employed by the golf course.

Similarly, the 300-ha Dai Lai Golf Course in Vinh Phuc Province’s Ngoc Thanh Commune took jobs away from thousands of people, and only gave jobs to 30 locals. According to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, each farmer cultivates 0.1 ha. Therefore, converting 2,625 ha of paddy fields into golf courses means taking jobs away from 2.6 million individuals.

The toll of the golf courses is not just manifesting in people but the environment as well. Eng Le Anh Tuan from the Can Tho University Environmental Technology Centre, said a 18 hole golf course consumes 5,000cu.m of water, which can be used for 20,000 households per day. Each golf course uses some 1.5 tonnes of chemicals per year, three-times higher than the amount required for farming. In addition, spraying pesticide spreads 90 per cent of toxic substances into the air.

If all the proposals are realised, their human and environmental costs will be in service of some 4,500 to 5,000 golf club members. For a golf course with a maximum of 50 members, each paying US$10,000 to 15,000 per year in fees, investors would have to wait 100 years to make back their money if membership dues are the only revenue source. Thus, it is easy to see that investors have their eyes on other goals rather than collected fees; but it is difficult to determine what those goals exactly are.

Comprehensive’ inspection

HCM City authorities set up on July 18 a working team to conduct a "comprehensive" inspection of a project to convert water park into a residential area. The 5-member inspection team, led by Vo Thanh Hung, deputy head of the HCM City Inspection Bureau’s Economic Inspection Section, will clarify issues on a plan carried out by the Sai Gon Water Park Co. to turn the amusement park project into a residential area on the Sai Gon River in Thu Duc District’s Linh Dong Ward.

According to Sai Gon Tiep Thi (Sai Gon Marketing) newsmagazine, the review was established after reports that the Sai Gon Water Park JV Co. put in more than VND10 billion (US$630,000) to fill the ground and build embankments along the Sai Gon River and Go Dua Canal to build a resident area with 50 luxury villas for sale or lease.

The company, a joint venture between Pegasus Leisure Ltd. of the British Virgin Islands and HCM City-based Thien Tuyen Housing Trading and Investment Consulting Co. Ltd., began operations with more than $11 million in investment capital in 1998.

As the first water park in Viet Nam, business during the first two years was very good. But the park has since faced fierce competition from new-comers like Suoi Tien Water Park, District 5 Water Park, Dam Sen Water Park, and Sai Gon Water World.

Sai Gon Water Park struggled to catchup to its rivals, eventually accumulating losses of VND207 billion ($13 million) by April 2006. With surmounting pressure, the park’s management asked city hall for permission to shift part of its operations to housing.

The company had already begun to fill the ground and build embankments two years ago when their proposal was rejected. In early 2006, the company signed a contract with the construction consulting company Meinhardt Viet Nam to change the purpose of the land use certificate granted to the 5-ha area under Sai Gon Water Park from a leisure facility to a housing zone.

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