Vietnam wastes up to 50,000 hectares of land to build golf courses to serve only around 5,000 players, said Dr. Le Van Thien from the University of Science under Hanoi Nation University.
“It is wasteful as each golf course project needs an average area of 203 hectares, meanwhile only 2,000 among 5,000 people play golf regularly”, Thien told at conference on golf courses organized by Vietnam Construction Association on May 6.
He cited Doi Cu Golf Course in Central Highlands Da Lat city as an example that it has not yet paid any taxes for tens of years.
Dr. Nguyen Duc Truyen from the Institute of Sociology said many golf courses occupy farming land of 3,000-10,000 farmers or the whole land of a commune.
Van Tri Golf Course in outlying Dong Anh district in Hanoi covers 128 hectares of land, including 93 hectares of agricultural land, pushing 600 households into land loss.
Analysts at the conference estimated that each golf course project often serves about 200-300 visitors at fees of US$100 per time, therefore, its capital return is slow.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment said it has licensed 144 golf course projects so far in 38 cities and provinces, but up to 57 among those are not properly planned or encroached land for sports, entertainment and tourism activities.
The ministry added that 76 golf course projects which are under construction use 22,000 hectares of land, comprising about 10,000 hectares of cultivation land.
Experts highlighted that it is important to tighten control over on licensing of golf courses to prevent land waste.
Localities should halt licensed golf course projects to review their feasibility before starting construction.
Regarding construction rampant gold courses, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development rang an alarming bell for good security issues, state media said. (HCM City Law, Youth)
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