Investors worried about 'losing' projects due to adjusted Nha Trang planning

Businesses are worried about "losing" projects that they have poured millions of U.S. dollars into because they go outside the new planning of Nha Trang town, Khanh Hoa province, south-central Vietnam.

At a dialogue between provincial authorities and businesses on Wednesday, Tran Viet Dung, deputy CEO of Crystal Bay Tourism Group JSC, said in the adjusted general planning for Nha Trang by 2040 that Khanh Hoa is about to submit to the government for approval, four projects that the company has invested VND600 billion ($24.65 million) in will be crossed out.

"We propose Khanh Hoa province consider the continuity, unity and inheritance of the Nha Trang general planning in the national master plan under Article 4 of the 2017 Planning Law to ensure not only a healthy investment environment in the province but also the rights and legitimate interests of businesses," Dung said.

According to Huynh Ngoc Diep, chairman and CEO of 584 Nha Trang Seafood JSC, the leaders of Khanh Hoa should consider planning fish sauce craft villages, because they are at risk of being “deleted”.

He said currently, large fish sauce enterprises in the area have relocated their facilities from Khanh Hoa, and 584 Nha Trang Seafood also has production facilities in other localities.

“Our company wants to know more about plans for fish sauce craft villages before considering relocating its production facility, which has a capacity of 15,000 tons per year,” he noted.

According to Chau Ngo Anh Nhan, director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, the projects proposed by businesses must wait for approval before they are implemented.

“The projects must be adjusted to fit the new planning, which is now in final steps for approval,” he said.

Nguyen Tan Tuan, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, requested departments and agencies to receive and promptly resolve petitions from businesses and investors. “They must propose solutions and policies to help businesses overcome these difficulties to recover and develop production and business,” he said.

Current support policies such as interest rate cuts, debt rescheduling, and keeping debt categories unchanged must continue, Tuan added.

He asked departments and agencies to soon submit to competent authorities for approval important plans such as the adjusted general planning for Nha Trang to 2040; the general planning for Cam Lam new urban area until 2045; the provincial land use plan for the 2021-2025 period and subdivision and district plans as a basis for management and investment attraction.

Also at the dialogue, the Khanh Hoa People's Committee announced 14 projects and works that had not or were slow to put land into use.

They include the conference-wedding hall-guest house project for officials and employees invested by brewer Sabeco, the Phuoc Thuong residential area project by Ngan Son Development Investment JSC, and the Trimet Nha Trang hotel-resort-commercial housing project by Trimet Nha Trang JSC.

Nha Trang currently has an area of more than 26,600 hectares, including 19 wards and eight communes, with more than 330,000 people.

Under Khanh Hoa's master plan, the beach town will continue to be a nuclear urban area for provincial development and play a critical connecting role for the development of many projects in other localities like Dien Khanh district, Van Phong, the northern Cam Ranh peninsular, and Cam Lam district.