Slew of Mekong Delta golf course projects seek investors

A string of Mekong Delta provinces are seeking investors for golf course projects in a bid to beef up local tourism.

An Giang authorities recently issued a 30-key-project list calling for investment in 2022, including a 120-hectare golf course.

The VND7,500 billion ($323.3 million) Ta Lot Lake tourism and golf course complex project is to be located on the slopes of Cam Mountain in Tinh Bien district, a tourist attraction in the south. Once complete, it would become the Mekong Delta's first golf course on a mountain.

Soc Trang province is seeking investment for a golf course project in Long Phung commune, Long Phu district. The 90-hectare project aims to create a semi-submerged alluvial terrain golf course.

An Giang is a scenic province where many mountains and rivers meet, while Soc Trang is home to 99 Khmer pagodas of different sizes and splendid architectural styles.

In March, FLC Group proposed a high-end complex project called FLC Mega City Bac Lieu, one of the key projects of FLC in Mekong Delta, in Bac Lieu town, capital of Bac Lieu province. A total 80 hectares would be used to construct an international standard golf course.

The complex would also include a 5-star hotel, a luxury resort, a system of indoor and outdoor amusement parks, and a modern commercial center with high-quality facilities.

However, the project remains on the shelf, with FLC's former chairman Trinh Van Quyet detained by police in March for investigation into stock market manipulation.

In Kien Giang province, Sun Group, one of Vietnam’s top real estate developers, is seeking approval to add a golf course segment to its Vung Bau eco-tourism area project in Cua Can commune, Phu Quoc town. The project is 45.6 hectares in scale and has been under construction since the first quarter of 2020.

Can Tho, the biggest city in Mekong Delta, is home to a VND1,139 billion ($49.11 million) golf course project named Con Au in Hung Phu ward, Cai Rang district. The 77-hectare project is invested by Vinpearl JSC under Vietnam’s largest listed conglomerate Vingroup. The golf course, to be surrounded by 77.3 hectares of Con Au villas, would soon enter operation.

In Duc Hoa district, Long An province, the foreign-invested West Lakes Golf & Villas golf course, Mekong Delta’s first, debuted in 2018. The 120-hectare course is located along the route connecting western HCMC to neighboring provinces.

According to experts, golfers are likely to return to the same location several times, with increasingly diversified tourism products drawing those in search of luxury and lengthy stays.

Due to the popularity of this tourist segment, many provinces are seeking to develop golf course projects. But if all of them have their way, there might be an overabundance of golf courses, wasting social investment capital and land resources.

According to the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment, each hectare of a golf course requires up to 1.5 tons of pesticides and 1.8 million cubic meters of water each year. Many years after a golf course stops operation, the poisoned land is still not suitable for cultivation.