VietNamNet Bridge – The coastal road that links the sea city of Da Nang and the historic town of Hoi An was once called the “multi-billion dollar road” because of its promising value.

But now it is called the “disillusion road” because the multi-billion dollar dream has been dashed.

Ten years ago, big real estate developers flocked into Da Nang City and Quang Nam province, struggling to scramble for the land plots in coastal areas.

They hoped that the high-end hotels and resorts would help them make big money.

A series of resort projects capitalized at tens or hundreds of millions of dollars were licensed and activated in a hurry.

A “resort road” was taking shape, starting from the foot of Son Tra Mountain, to Truong Sa – Vo Nguyen Giap – Hoang Sa streets in Da Nang City and ending in Hoi An town in Quang Nam province.

The local authorities spent millions of dollars to turn the coastal route, which was a deserted area 20 years ago with protective forests to prevent sand, into a 30 kilometer modern 4-lane road, linking Da Nang and Hoi An.

Thousands of local households and hundreds of hectares of protective forests were ravaged to get the site for 5-star hotel and resort projects.

The front of the land plots reserved for hotel and resort projects faced the multi-million modern road and the back faced the sea. They were allocated to real estate developers under 50-70 year leasing contracts.

Soon after getting licenses and receiving land, the real estate developers organized groundbreaking ceremonies to start the construction of the resorts.

However, after the ceremonies, the “resort village” became abnormally quiet. The construction suddenly stopped after fences were installed.

“If the projects had been implemented as scheduled, Da Nang would have become the  Hong Kong of Vietnam,” a retired senior official in Da Nang said. The real estate market, which cooled down unexpectedly, caused the big investors to hold back.

As a result, the land plots programmed for high-end resorts and hotels now remain deserted areas. No luxury hotel arisen there, while the protective forests have been ravaged.

In Da Nang alone, according to the city’s department of natural resources and the environment, there are 50 licensed tourism projects, covering a total area of 160.5 hectares. The projects, 14 foreign and 36 domestic invested, have registered capital of VND60 trillion, which is equal to $3 billion, if referring to the current dong/dollar exchange rate.

Of the 50 projects, only 17, including five foreign and 12 domestic invested projects, have the construction fully or partially completed.

The other 13 projects, capitalized at VND23 trillion, are under implementation, but going very slowly. The investors of the other eight projects capitalized at VND4.5 trillion have received land, but have not started the construction. Meanwhile, the investors of the remaining 12 projects have not received land due to procedural problems.

Vu Trung