The Dai Ninh Commercial, Tourism and Ecological Resort Urban Area Project (Nam Da Lat Urban Area) was granted an Investment Certificate by Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee in 2010 to Saigon Dai Ninh Tourism Investment Joint Stock Company (Saigon Dai Ninh Company).
The project includes a central urban area (Davos villa), a multi-purpose villa area, a green island and a lakeside area. Public works land includes central works, public services, cultural education, trade - service - finance, hotel resorts, etc.
In addition, this project also has a park with a primeval forest, a world flower garden, a nature reserve... on an area of up to 3,595 hectares, passing through the communes of Phu Hoi, Ninh Gia, Ta Hine and Ninh Loan, in Duc Trong district. The nearest location of the project is about 50km south of Da Lat city.
A corner of the Dai Ninh urban commercial, tourism and ecological resort project in Lam Dong province. (Photo: Truong Nguyen)
Initially, the investor of this project was Saigon - Dai Ninh Company, with Ms. Phan Thi Hoa as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, Director and legal representative. The charter capital of this company in 2010 was 300 billion VND, by 2017, the company increased its charter capital to 2,000 billion VND.
However, later, tycoon Nguyen Cao Tri (53 years old, residing in Ho Chi Minh City) used Capella Hospitality Company Limited (a subsidiary of Capella Company) instead of Ben Thanh Company to buy back 51% of the charter capital of Saigon - Dai Ninh Company, for VND 1,530 billion. From January 2021, Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri became the legal representative of this company.
According to the investment progress, Nam Da Lat Urban Area was implemented since 2010, expected to be completed and put into use in 2018. However, up to now, after 13 years of implementation, the project has only completed a number of items including 15 working and resting houses for experts, 1 hall, 6 rest stops, about 20 km of internal roads and planting more than 10 hectares of forest on the cleared encroached area.
Notably, this project has destroyed more than 257 hectares of forest and encroached on more than 111 hectares of forest land. In 2017, Lam Dong Department of Finance decided to require the company to compensate for the total value of forest resource damage of 6.66 billion VND, but by mid-2020, this enterprise had only paid 1.67 billion VND.
In Inspection Conclusion 929/KL/TTCP dated June 12, 2020, the Government Inspectorate requested the People's Committee of Lam Dong province to terminate the operation and revoke the Nam Da Lat Urban Area project of Saigon Dai Ninh Company.
Implementing the request of the Government Inspectorate, the Department of Planning and Investment of Lam Dong province has advised and proposed the People's Committee of Lam Dong province to carry out procedures to revoke this project. However, in October 2020, Saigon Dai Ninh Company submitted many applications for consideration to the competent authorities, including the Government Inspectorate and the People's Committee of Lam Dong province.
In the petition, the company stated that the Government Inspectorate's working group, when inspecting the Nam Da Lat Urban Area project, worked "too principledly", only relying on reports from functional agencies, without contacting or dialogue with businesses, and without creating conditions for businesses to explain...
This led to the inspection conclusion on the Nam Da Lat Urban Area project lacking objectivity, pushing the enterprise to the risk of bankruptcy.
Dai Ninh urban commercial, tourism and ecological resort project, Lam Dong province. (Photo: Truong Nguyen)
On March 1, 2021, the Government Inspectorate issued a decision to establish a working group to verify the content of the petition of Saigon Dai Ninh Company.
On July 8, 2021, Deputy Inspector General of the Government Tran Van Minh signed a document announcing the amendment of some contents of Inspection Conclusion No. 929/KL-TTCP dated June 12, 2020 of the Government Inspectorate. Accordingly, the request to terminate operations and reclaim land for the project of Saigon - Dai Ninh Company was withdrawn.
The Government Inspectorate requested the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee to base on its authority to guide the company to carry out procedures to extend progress, adjust the project according to the 2014 Investment Law, extend land use according to the 2013 Land Law, complete the project as committed; invest according to the approved scale.
In early 2022, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee extended the project's progress by 24 months and asked the investor to focus resources on completing it. However, to date, this super project has made almost no progress.
In a document sent to Lam Dong provincial authorities on November 11, 2022, Saigon - Dai Ninh Company reported that the company had invested a total of VND 2,000 billion in the project. At the same time, it proposed to increase the total adjusted investment of the project to more than VND 30,200 billion.
Since the approval to continue implementing the project as proposed in Conclusion 1033/KL-TTCP of the Government Inspectorate, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee and related Departments and Branches have regularly urged the investor to speed up the implementation of items approved by competent authorities.
However, in reality, from 2018 to now, Saigon Dai Ninh Company has not implemented any other construction items. The super project of Nam Da Lat Urban Area with a total capital of more than 25,000 billion VND is still "inactive".
Many officials involved in the case are in trouble with the law.
On January 2, the Department of Investigation Police on Corruption, Economic Crimes, and Smuggling under the Ministry of Public Security issued a decision to prosecute, an arrest warrant, and a search warrant for Mr. Tran Van Hiep, Chairman of the People's Committee of Lam Dong Province, for the crime of Receiving Bribes.
The investigation agency determined that Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee Tran Van Hiep had accepted bribes related to the Dai Ninh Urban Commercial, Tourism and Ecological Resort Project (Nam Da Lat Urban Area), Lam Dong Province.
Regarding this project, in March 2023, the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency initiated a bribery case, prosecuted and temporarily detained Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Chief Inspector of Lam Dong province, to investigate the act of bribery.
Then, in August 2023, Ms. Tran Bich Ngoc, Director of Department I of the Government Office, was prosecuted and temporarily detained for investigation on charges of abusing her position and power related to the bribery case in the above project.
HIEN MAI (synthesis)
Source
Comment (0)