Da Lat City photos

Lam Dong seeks new investors for a $1 billion highland resort complex after several failed attempts by previous stakeholders to complete their planned projects.



The Lam Dong administration is soliciting investment for a US$1 billion resort complex after revoking an agreement with a Japanese consortium to develop the largest-ever tourism project in the central highlands province.



The project seeks to build a resort – inclusive of an urban residential area, luxury hotels and international conference halls – covering 5,000 hectares in Lac Duong District’s Dankia-Suoi Vang area, located some 20 kilometers away from the provincial capital Da Lat.

The province last May agreed in principle to allow Para Plan Joint Stock Co., a consortium which represents four Japanese corporations – Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and Limtec – to invest in the Dankia-Suoi Vang tourism project.



The Japanese investors had planned to spend around $1.2 billion to convert the 5,071-hectare land plot into an attractive urban town and a large complex of high-class resorts, together dubbed as “The Romantic Town.”



The land plot, home to famous tourist attractions such as the Dankia Lake and Suoi Vang (Gold Stream), was designed to host a horse-racing track, golf course, cable-car system, tennis courts, bungalows and other auxiliary facilities.



However, the provincial administration in late February this year annulled the agreement as the consortium failed to complete investment procedures as scheduled.



In 1997, the project was initially valued at $706 million and authorized to be developed by The Da Lat-Dankia Holding Ltd. – a joint venture between three Singaporean companies and Lam Dong Tourism Company.



Expected to be completed in 15 years, the foreign partners were responsible for 65 percent of the capital, while the Vietnamese counterpart would contribute the rest in the form of land use rights.

But the project was delayed for eight years as cash-strapped investors could not afford its costs in the wake of the Asian financial crisis in 1997.



After breaching key deadlines several times, investors were given until January 2005 to fulfill contractual terms but they ultimately opted out of the project.



The Ministry of Planning and Investment then decided to retract the project license, opening up the opportunity for the Japanese consortium to get involved.

Ongoing projects

Macau property developer Acteam International Corporation Ltd. on March 22 this year started work on a $300 million resort in Lam Dong’s Don Duong District.

The 567-hectare Royale City Resort, located around 18 kilometers from Da Lat, will include 250 luxury villas, a 36-hole golf course, a five-star hotel with 200 rooms, an ethnic minority village, an entertainment area and water sports facilities, all meeting international standards.

The project, which recruited some 1,500 local laborers, is due for completion in 2013.

In November last year, Maico Company Limited, a ceramics import-export firm headquartered in southern Binh Duong Province, broke ground for a $10 million resort occupying 15 hectares in the Tuyen Lam Lake Tourism Complex in Da Lat.

The five-star Nam Son Resort, which will include 34 European-style luxury villas, conference halls and a venue for yoga practice, is slated to open in early 2010.



Nam Son is among 31 planned projects in Tuyen Lam under the Lam Dong administration’s scheme to develop this site into an international tourism complex providing ecological tours, relaxation and entertainment services, and conference activities.

The 4,860-hectare zone, some five kilometers south of Da Lat, includes 2,800 hectares of protective forest while the remaining area is reserved for development.