Local company wins slot for golf project on Phu Quoc Island

VietNamNet Bridge – Saigon Construction Trade Investment Co., Ltd. has secured approval in principle from Kien Giang Province for a tourism and golf course project on Phu Quoc Island, where only four golf courses are to be developed, an official said.

Pham Vu Hong, head of the management unit in charge of investment projects in Phu Quoc Island, said that the investor would develop the project at Bai Vong beach in Ham Ninh Commune of the island district. The complex covering some 570 hectares will also include many facilities such as a resort, a sport area, a tourism wharf, and other auxiliary constructions.

Hong said this project would be the third golf course to earn blessing on the island envisioned to become a tourism paradise in the future, and there remains only one license awaiting investors. The amount of investment is not yet available, he said.

"We cannot give the exact amount of investment that the investor will spend for the project because it is making a scheme on site clearance for the project. But it is one of the big-ticket projects in Phu Quoc," he said.

In the master plan for Phu Quoc Island, there will be only four golf courses, but three have been allocated, including this company. The other two that have received licenses are Starbay Vietnam Co, and Saigontourist Holding Company.

The last project of four will be developed at Ong Lang Beach, and the province is making a scheme for this project, Hong said, adding these courses would have either 18 holes or 36 holes. He however said that other small golf facilities such as golf driving ranges would be allowed on the island.

"Other tourism projects in the island will also have small golf facilities like driving ranges for golfers' practice," Hong explained.

The 561-square-kilometer Phu Quoc Island, nearly an hour's flying from HCMC, has a coastline of some 150 kilometers, and will become a tourist island capable of attracting two to three million guests a year in 2020.

The island has so far given investment certificates to 21 projects with total pledged investment of around US$1.72 billion, with only two of them foreign-invested ones.

Phu Quoc Island welcomed around 128,000 travelers during the first eight months of this year, up 8.33% year-on-year. Of them, nearly 35,000 are foreigners. The island is expected to earn VND266 billion from tourism revenue in 2008.

(Source: SGT)

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