VietNamNet Bridge – Farmland has been lost, and forests and coastal sand banks have been devastated in Thua Thien-Hue Province because of projects that developers have yet to implement.

For the last 10 years, a series of tourism projects bearing romantic names have been at a standstill, including Thien Duong (Paradise), Coi Niet Ban (Nirvana, the place where the fires of greed, hatred and ignorance are quenched), Giac Mo (Dream), Lang Xanh (Green Village), Hoa Binh (Peace) and Hoang Gia (Royal).

In order to make room for the projects’ development, Thua Thien-Hue residents had to move from their homes, losing land for agricultural production. However, the land has not been used and the local environment has been devastated.

Phu Hai 2 Hamlet in Loc Vinh Commune alone was the targeted destination of the investors of three tourism projects licensed 10 years ago. The projects included the 7.8 hectare Hoa Binh and 7.6 hectare Thien Duong tourist sites, and the Lang Co resort & golf course, expected to cover a large area of 300 hectares.

Large areas in Binh An and Dong An Hamlets have also been reserved for bonded warehouse projects registered by the Saigon-Chan May Company.

However, all of the projects exist only on paper.

Bui Ngoc Ga, chair of the Vinh Loc commune People’s Committee, said local people have suffered heavily from the unimplemented projects. They are not allowed to build new houses or repair existing houses, which are in dire need of repairs, especially for protection in the stormy season.

Ho Trong Vinh, a policeman of Loc Vinh Commune, pointing at a bare hill, located on a land plot allocated to the investor to develop Thien Duong project, said a forest had been located on the site in the past.

In 1998, people began planting casuarinas and melaleuca trees, creating a protective forests to prevent wind and sand as requested by the local authorities.

However, the plants were chopped down later, when they got big, to make room for the projects to be implemented.

“However, as you see, nothing has arisen on the sand bank, no resort, no tree,” he said.

A formerly forested area, about eight hectares, just two kilometers north of the Thien Duong project, which was reserved for the Hoa Binh project development, has become a sand exploitation site. No tourist project has been built there.

Protective forests on these sites are now gone, while the projects have not even appeared yet.  

Local people, who tried to protect the forests in the past, now try to fell trees to sell for money.

It is estimated that five hectares of forests have been destroyed by locals so far.

Ga complained that the disappearance of the protective forest in Phu Hai 2 Hamlet has caused landslides on the coast, and the problem is getting more serious.

“As far as I know, the tourist projects were supposed to be eco-tourist projects, i.e., the natural environment would be the focus. However, ironically, they are the reason behind the environmental devastation,” Ga said.

Dai Doan Ket