Tighten licensing regulations

Review and re-evaluate effectiveness

More than 16 years have passed, many items of the golf course, hotel and villa complex project in Cua Lo Town (Nghe An) are still unfinished. Frustrated by this situation, voters of Nghi Hoa Ward (Cua Lo Town) have requested the People's Committee of Nghe An Province to inspect and handle the project when it breaks the urban planning of the town, while not bringing socio-economic efficiency to the locality, many items have not been implemented after many years.

The Cua Lo Golf Course, Hotel and Villa Complex Project has a total investment of over 1,527 billion VND, and was granted an investment certificate by Nghe An province in April 2007 with a total planning area of ​​over 132 hectares. The scale of the project includes an 18-hole golf course, a 5-star hotel, a 3-star hotel, 284 villas, a beach sports and service area and ancillary works.

Investing in tourist golf courses is good, but we need to be careful of the consequences of the explosion of planning too many golf course projects by localities.

However, according to the People's Committee of Nghe An province, this project has had its investment certificate adjusted four times. The province has also inspected the project's violations many times. However, so far, it has only stopped at assigning the Department of Planning and Investment to preside over and coordinate in advising on the time and procedures for adjusting the project's implementation progress, as well as assigning relevant departments to issue documents urging investors to fulfill their financial obligations. Slow progress, land use fee debt, most of which are unfinished, but according to the investor, capital has been raised through the sale of land use registration rights and house purchase and sale contracts, and capital contributions.

This is just one of many golf course projects combined with villas or resorts and tourism that were planned but were slow to be implemented in the previous period. According to lawyer Bui Quang Nghiem (Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association), the nature of the golf course projects that have sprung up in recent years is mostly for the immediate purpose of real estate business and the long-term purpose of land speculation.

To clarify the purpose of the golf course planning boom, lawyer Nghiem said that the Government should conduct a comprehensive review of the entire current golf course system to clarify the following issues: If service business and resort real estate are separated, will golf course operations be effective? What economic value will they create? How much tax will be paid to the state budget each year?... If golf courses that have been in operation for 5 years or more are still losing money but still propose to expand and develop, or if the locality still wants to build another golf course, then it can be concluded that it is land speculation, taking public land and state land to invest in golf courses to seek profit.

"Converting forest land to build golf courses in particular, as well as economic projects in general, all components in the interest group benefit: from businesses to licensing units, approval units... Therefore, it is very necessary to have inspection and supervision from the Government through the tax tool. Not only is it required that the project must be built and completed according to the correct scale and within the prescribed time, but it is also necessary to "contract" the minimum tax collection level for each golf course project," said Mr. Nghiem.

Clarifying local responsibilities

Talking to Thanh Nien , a real estate expert admitted that when investing in golf course projects, project owners often consider the whole as a resort complex with a golf course. This is completely in line with the rapidly growing demand for golf tourism. In the past, Vietnamese people were still quite unfamiliar with golf, this was almost a sport only for the rich, so golf course resorts were not easy to "make a living".

However, the number of Vietnamese golfers is growing rapidly. The country currently has about 100,000 golfers, nearly 100 golf courses in operation, expected to reach 200 by 2025. Of these, 32 courses meet international 5-star standards, all of which are attached to luxury resorts. It is these well-invested projects that have created the attraction for many luxury tourists to come to Vietnam to play golf. Vietnam's golf tourism potential has been recognized by the world and to serve the needs of tourists, there is an indispensable need for resorts and accompanying high-class services.

"The current tourism trend is to prioritize private, closed spaces, especially for the super-rich. We cannot force them to play golf in one place and then go all the way to the city center to rest. Golfers are not the ones with high demand for visiting many destinations like regular visitors. Not to mention, according to the Land Law, land for building golf courses consists of two parts: land for green tree planting services and land for building other utility works such as restaurants, entertainment areas, and resort hotels. In the case of some localities allowing investors to circumvent the construction of hotels and villas for rent or sale, that is the responsibility of the locality. Enterprises that are licensed can just do it," said this expert.

Supporting the development of golf courses as a highlight to attract international visitors, according to National Assembly delegate Pham Van Hoa (Dong Thap delegation), many international businessmen or tourists from Japan and Korea love to play golf. Investing in international-class golf courses is also a highlight of tourism, attracting high-income visitors as well as foreign businessmen to invest or work in Vietnam.

However, he is very concerned that the provinces in the development planning for the period up to 2030 are proposing too many golf courses. "For example, Hoa Binh is a mountainous province, tourism has nothing special to attract domestic and international visitors, but the desire to invest in nearly 40 golf courses is too much. Hoa Binh or Nghe An are not ideal tourist destinations, only need a few quality golf courses to attract visitors, investing in so many golf courses will not have enough visitors, and be economically effective. Meanwhile, golf courses occupy a lot of land", National Assembly delegate Pham Van Hoa emphasized.

Build a golf course to develop other purposes such as keeping land for real estate?

Northern provinces with undeveloped tourism, and neighboring provinces such as Bac Giang, Hoa Binh and Ninh Binh are all close to Hanoi. If we build so many golf courses, who will play? Or use the goal of building golf courses to develop other purposes such as keeping land for real estate. The government needs to direct, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development need to re-examine which provinces plan to allocate land for golf courses, what type of land, and explain specifically. Each locality cannot plan too much, which can easily leave consequences later.

National Assembly Delegate Pham Van Hoa

If the minimum revenue for the budget is not guaranteed, it should be withdrawn.

If a locality wants to convert 100 hectares of forest land to develop economic projects, it must commit to paying a certain amount to the budget in the first 5 years after completing the project according to plan. Even in the case that the project has been invested in but after 5 years it does not ensure a minimum revenue for the budget, and the business profit does not guarantee 5-7%/year, the project will be revoked, the land will be returned, and the forest will be returned.

Attorney Bui Quang Nghiem

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/bung-no-quy-hoach-san-golf-siet-quy-dinh-cap-phep-18523082914315114.htm