Blue Ocean resort

Pollution-worried resort owner given wide options - Blue Ocean resort

Life Resorts Management Co., which decided to abort a high-class resort in Binh Thuan Province a fortnight ago due to worries over a titanium mining project nearby, still have backing from the provincial government either to choose another site, or can wait some more time, an official said.

Vice chairman of Binh Thuan Province Nguyen Van Thu told the Daily last week that the provincial government would look for the best way to help the investor continue the project, and "if the investor wants, the provincial government can consider another location for the project."

Talking with the Daily at a cocktail party two weeks ago, Life-Resorts Management Company's general director Chris Duffy stressed that a tourism resort and a mining project were unable to go together so the foreign investors of the joint venture would abort the resort project.

Duffy furthered a license had been granted to the mining project in the same location of the resort project, about 20 kilometers south of Phan thiet city

This was confirmed by the vice chairman of Binh Thuan, who said that a company named Hop Long Trade and Investment Joint Stock Company had received a license by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in December to mine titanium near the location of the Life resort project.

Thu, however, said he did not hear any thing regarding the foreign partner's decision to back out, although the province had done a lot in tackling the rows.

"We've received complains from these tourism investors who insist that resorts and mining projects could not go hand in hand. The province has twice met with the two related sides to seek ways for solving the problem," he said, adding the resort and the mining projects' locations are separated a road.

According to Thu, the mining company has demonstrated its goodwill by pledging to satisfy all compulsory conditions for its project, including the construction of a new road to transport titanium, and not to use beach water for sifting ores. Furthermore, the mining project has a short operation term, so resort projects can still go on, he said.

"Almost all tourism projects there (in Phan Thiet City's Tien Thanh Commune), including the Life resorts still have not been developed. So, I think that during the time Hop Long tap ores there, within four years and three months, these tourism investors can still develop their projects and put them to business soon later," he said.

According to him, with the high-class project like the Life Resorts, the provincial government can gives priority to the investors to choose other suitable locations.

"If the investor asks for a location change, we will approve it," Thu said.

Life Resorts Management Company and the local partner Blue ocean Co. Ltd. had earlier established a joint venture for a project named Life Wellness Resort in Binh Thuan Province. The two sides in the 50:50 joint venture wanted to develop the 105-room resort on 4.6 hectares in Phan Thiet, and planned to open it in the last quarter of this year.

However, it does not seem that the project could ever be put into operation late this year as scheduled even if the titanium project had not been licensed, given the short length of time for development.

Ground had been broken for the resort project several months before the mining project was licensed, but until this far, what has been built or erected is merely a signboard depicting the project, without any infrastructure facilities seen.

Meanwhile, the local partner in the resort project, Blue Ocean Co. Ltd., said it was still expecting an opportunity to continue with the project.

Blue Ocean chairman Nguyen Thanh Bich told the Daily that the company wanted to postpone the resort project which got off ground more than one year ago.

"We want to delay not abandon the resort project in order to see how the titanium project goes before we make our final decision," Bich said over the weekend. He acknowledged that it was impossible for an environment-friendly resort to exist with a mining exploitation project, which generates dusk and noise.

Bich confirmed again that Blue Ocean had not received any written decision from the foreign investors though they had announced the cancellation of the international-standard tourism resort project.

(Source: SGT)

Tag: Environment , Investment , Resort , Tour , Tourism

Pollution-worried resort owner given wide options - Blue Ocean resort

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