$52-mln hotel project scrapped in Nha Trang after ten-year delay

Con Nhat Tri, a VND1.2-trillion ($51.7 million) project on 21 hectares (52 acres) with a five-star hotel, an amusement area and apartments, was approved in 2009.

But work on it never started, leaving over 7,000 people in Vinh Phuoc Commune in Nha Trang of Khanh Hoa Province, whose lands were to be taken over, in limbo.

In May 2015 provincial authorities handed it over to Pham Tran Investment LLC, but last year the company backed out saying it was unable to acquire the lands, and the task required a lot of time, money and human resources.

The project was meant to improve infrastructure in Con Nhat Tri, an unorganized area not suitable for a tourism town like Nha Trang, Deputy Chairman of the town, Nguyen Sy Khanh, said.

A top official in the provincial Department of Planning and Investment said if no private investor is interested, the government needs to use its own funds to improve the area.

Nha Trang received 6.3 million tourists last year, 16 percent up from 2017, with the majority being from China and Russia, according to official figures.