State-owned Vietnam Construction Import-Export Corporation (Vinaconex) is moving ahead with a project to build US$600 million tourism urban zone on Cat Ba Island off the coast of the northern city of Haiphong.
This is considered the first tourism urban zone to be set up in Vietnam, which is expected to be an impetus to promote tourism on Cat Ba Island, an already place of interest, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
The 171-ha tourism zone, belonging to Cai Gia bay of the Cat Ba Island-Ha Long Bay complex, consists of various facilities, including four villas areas with 1,000 villas, resorts, three-and-five-star hotels, entertainment centre, international conference center, Tung Thu national aquarium and bathing beaches, yacht clubs and sports areas.
While implementing the project, the state will carry out a lot of infrastructure projects to support the development of Cat Ba tourism, including Highway No 5B, Dinh Vu Bridge, and the cross-island road. It will take two hours only to travel from Hanoi to Cat Ba.
The investor has completed the work of site clearance, and is preparing to build the first items of the tourism urban zone on an area of ten hectares. The zone will provide two new bathing beaches for Cat Ba, create an international wharf, making Vietnam a stopover on the itinerary by yacht from Hong Kong to Singapore.
The project construction is estimated last eight to ten years.
Once the project becomes operational, it will create a new area which has the surface area and population equivalent to that of the existing Cat Ba town. This will become a new tourism centre of Cat Ba, turning Cat Ba into a luxurious tourism point, which can be compared to other famous regional destinations, said Tran Ngoc Quang, director of the project management board.
Vinaconex is preparing to establish a joint stock company, which will gather many big investors, including banks and economic groups. The corporation will also call for investment cooperation in the tourism urban zone. (VietNamNet Aug 28, Vietnam Panorama)
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