Tourism exploitation story in La Gi

Over 60 years ago, when Binh Tuy province was first established under the Republic of Vietnam (1956), through old documents, only in La Gi town, a number of "scenic" places were recorded on the local territory map.

In which, with pages of seemingly “warm” descriptions, these are considered heritages and treasures bestowed by nature. They are Da Dung Dam, Doi Duong, Hon Ba, Nganh Tam Tan… These places are entirely based on natural advantages with green forests, rivers, streams, and blue seas. Later, Cam Binh beach, Doc Trau beach, and the cultural relics of Dinh Thay Thim, Lang Van…

Dinh Thay Thim Cultural Festival at Dinh Thay Thim Cultural Relic Site, Tan Tien Commune, La Gi Town. Photo: D.Hoa

A Doi Duong, casuarina trees were planted since the 1930s, along the 7km long arc-shaped coastline on the undulating sand dunes from Tam Tan to Tan Long. Hon Ba is considered the pearl island of "Dong Tien Sa", with a temple worshiping the goddess Thien Y A na with beautiful scenery only 2km from the shore but has a lonely fate. However, the logos promoting the "National Tourism Year, the Green Convergence event still have the image of Hon Ba, but it is not a place for tourists to visit and worship because it has been banned for the past two decades... A Tam Tan branch, with a coastline bearing the footprints of a legendary time, next to the beach is a cluster of orphaned rocks where flocks of seagulls come here to spread their wings in the morning and evening.

It is a pity that Da Dung dam with majestic natural scenery and artificial construction was built in 1958, right in the center of Binh Tuy provincial capital and also in the middle of La Gi urban area today. The two ends of the dam are nearly 120m long on the right and left banks of the Dinh River, each side was nearly 2 hectares wide, a green park with cherry blossom trees and many ornamental pots, climbing flower trellis... existing until the liberation day of April 23, 1975. In the early years, the government had to take care of many big things, but then it was abandoned and worse, these lands became owned land, trees were destroyed, the red books belonged to households since when. People petitioned, the press reported, the meetings of the District People's Council, then the town were bustling with questions... Finally, they gave up and gradually fell into oblivion.

La Gi can be considered a place with the earliest opportunities for developing sea tourism, only after Mui Ne. Next to it is the coast of Ham Thuan Nam district with Ke Ga, Thuan Quy, Hon Lan at that time was just a wild and remote sea area. Meanwhile, since 2002, Ham Tan district (old) had 58 tourism projects and 3 community tourism areas of Nganh Tam Tan, Doi Duong-Hon Ba, Cam Binh beach along 49 km of coastline. Until the establishment of La Gi town in 2005, at the conference of investors, it was determined that there were 31 projects stretching over 28 km of coastline approved for investment by the province. Perhaps this was a "red carpet" opportunity to invite many individuals to hastily establish companies, jumping in with a few acres of land. There are not many businesses with real financial capacity and professionalism, leading to the situation of holding land for sale becoming a problem until now. Furthermore, land management at the commune level is lax, when the province approves investment and allocates land, there are problems with land disputes with the people, and complaints. The most obvious is that nearly a dozen projects in Cam Binh tourist area (Tan Phuoc commune) are the cause of prolonged disputes and also the reason for businesses that do not have the capacity to implement construction, waiting to sell land to take advantage of it to drag on. Every year, there are inspection teams from the province, then granting extensions, but it seems like they only "raise high and hit lightly", becoming familiar, everything is fine... Talking about the cause of stagnation, every project has a ready argument for the so-called legitimate cause, the important thing is whether the relevant sector recognizes it or not! So why is the land allocated to many coastal tourism projects in La Gi still not moving, even people freely rush in to plant trees, fence, and run around to get certificates. Not only on the disputed land waiting to be resolved, but also on the 50 meter wide planned road to the sea, they openly build drinking establishments and motels like in Tan Phuoc. Even the Cam Binh community tourism area, despite having an on-site tourism management board, still accepts the beach as a fish market, with shops and stalls covering it up in a messy manner, losing the true purpose of a community beach.

Talking about the large-scale project of Saigon - Ham Tan Tourist Area with an area of 255 hectares, with an investment license from 2004 - 2008. Adjacent to this project is the Binh Tan Blue Sea project (Viet Thuan Company) on 11 hectares and then the projects named Song Thanh, Thai Thanh, Trung Hieu, KT. Thanh Doan, An Viet to Doc Trau (Tan Tien) have shared the length of nearly 5 km of the most "prime" coastline. This is a pine forest planted with casuarina trees since the early 30s of the last century under the French colonial period to prevent the sea from eroding the rice fields and residents of Tan Ly and Bau Doi villages. The old place name is So Duong 1, So Duong 2 with a ranger station guarding it. Since these projects along with the exploitation of titanium minerals, the land has now been left desolate. Particularly, the two large projects Saigon - Ham Tan and Binh Tan have sparsely built a few hotels, bungalows... only the rough construction, shabby and abandoned. As for Binh Thuan newspaper, specifically naming the largest project in La Gi, Saigon Ham Tan, it was headlined "Golden land of tourism project abandoned for 10 years" (October 26, 2018) and then the article "Why did a tourism project last more than 16 years?" (BT. February 10, 2020). Whatever the reason is, the province does not have to reclaim it, but it is a pity that a green poplar hill, dense with ancient trees nearly 90 years old, has now been wiped out. Besides, there is a community tourism area (Doi Duong) that has been around for nearly two decades without finding an investor, which is strange. Here, only about 10 households spontaneously built shops and motels on this land in a state of uncertainty, so the landscape is shabby. Yet it has become an "ideal" beach for visitors to the tourist city of La Gi.

The new move on measures to remove the backlog of "immobile" projects recently in the general situation in the province, through the press, includes the names of tourism projects in La Gi such as Whal Hill, Eden, Thu Hang, Lang Tre LG, Song Thanh, Mui Da, Viet Cham, Mui Da and the large project Saigon - Ham Tan... But in reality, that's not all, what about the projects Dai Duong (APEX), Tan Binh (Viet Thuan), Mom Da Chim Expansion, Ba Mien, Binh Tuy...?

According to news from newspapers, at the conference on June 20, 2023, Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People's Committee Doan Anh Dung directed specialized agencies to review all coastal projects. The province must be resolute in dealing with projects that are slow to implement without a valid reason, otherwise the province will revoke them. This is a necessary measure to clear up the inherent problems in the province's tourism development requirements, especially with La Gi, a locality with many opportunities for the appearance of southern coastal tourism in the province.

La Gi's road system connects with the North-South Expressway, with the southern tourist areas of Phan Thiet, Tien Thanh, Thuan Quy, Ke Ga. National Highway 55 from Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, Long Hai and Ho Tram coastal tourist routes are adjacent to La Gi... New opportunities for La Gi to develop coastal tourism with many advantages are opening up. Certainly, with the decisive direction of the province, the quiet situation of tourism projects in La Gi for many years will be revived.

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