Ha Long golf resort project lands in the rough over environmental concerns

The Vietnamese government has suspended a high-profile golf course & resort project run by developer FLC Group in Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province, following media reports that the project poses serious mudslide risks, the goverment portal reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung, a former minister of construction, has ordered FLC Group to discontinue work on the FLC Ha Long Resort & Golf Course project because it has not submitted the necessary environmental impact assessment report, the site said.

A representative for FLC Group wasn't immediately available for comment on this latest development.

Dung's order comes shortly after the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment ordered the project to be suspended on March 20 for the same reasons. The project has been under fire since last year after media agencies held it responsible for a number of mudslides around Ha Long.

Thanh Nien reported that thousands of cubic meters of mud from a hillside where the golf course is being constructed had submerged many houses in the wards of Ha Trung and Hong Hai following heavy rain in July 2016.

In response, authorities asked FLC Group to halt the project, build embankments and install a drainage system. Once these landslide and drainage measures are approved by local authorities, the firm will be allowed to continue the project.

However, Tuoi Tre reported last week that construction is continuing, despite the order and public complaints.

While it remains to be seen how FLC Group will respond to the order, the suspension will undoubtly hinder the company's ambitious goal, which it publicly announced last June, of building 20 new golf courses in Vietnam in the next five years.