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Several workers along with various machines could be seen demolishing the top three floors of the hotel, located in down Phu Quoc City on the eponymous resort island on Monday. All 12 floors of the hotel will eventually be dismantled.
There were guards around the perimeters to ensure safety as the machines took apart the structure. Vu Manh Hung, owner of the hotel, said around VND100 billion had been invested in the project.
It is expected to take three months to take down the whole facility, at "great costs," said Hung, although he did not specify further.
The hotel was built over 2,700 m2 of land on Tran Hung Dao Street. In August 2022, the main investor of the structure was fined over VND60 million for not building in accordance with the approved plan, converting around 500 m2 of land intended for planting trees to non-agricultural land.
At the time, however, the main investor only agreed to pay the fine and did not agree to dismantle the structure. In April 2023, the Phu Quoc People’s Committee devised a plan to dismantle the structure. Late last year, the main investor finally agreed to take down the structure themselves. Authorities said the dismantling needed to be done before June 1, 2023.
An illegally built 12-story hotel in downtown Phu Quoc, Kien Giang. Video by VnExpress/Duong Dong
The 12-story hotel is one among several illegally built structures on the island. Several other illegally built villas and bungalows, which encroached onto public land or conservation areas on the island, have been dismantled as well.
Phu Quoc, located off the southwest coast of the Mekong Delta’s Kien Giang Province, is a popular tourist destination that receives around 2-3 million visitors a year. In recent years, illegal construction has become a prevalent issue in the area.
