Booming golf courses just a front for tax breaks
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The head of the country’s engineering association told Tuoi Tre that developers are building golf courses en-masse across the country to enjoy preferential taxes levied on accompanying villas and apartments.
Tran Ngoc Hung, head of the Vietnam Federation of Civil Engineering Association, urged the government to be more careful in approving golf course projects.
Though recognizing the necessity of golf courses as a leisure place for foreign investors and diplomats in a developed Vietnam, Hung said it is the quantity and locations of the courses that need to be considered.
Since Vietnam has a very high population density in Asia, the government should save lands for other necessary uses rather than building so many golf courses.
The country is planning to build one in both the Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City and the Gia Lam airport in Hanoi.
As many golf courses in Vietnam earn just modest profits compared to their huge initial investments, there is another purpose in building them, Hung revealed.
Real estate investment is the real aim of the golf developers because this kind of sport can enjoy special tax policy and other special treatments, he elaborated.
Accompanying each small golf course are hundreds of villas and apartments, which – by virtue of the sport playground – enjoy special treatment also, he explained.
He suggested the government think twice before approving golf course projects to stop such disguised real estate projects.
At present, the government has already prohibited the trading of lands and villas within the golf course’s area to crackdown on the problem.
But the investors can still lease out their lands and villas, and some people have taken advantage of this to rent a villas or land plots there for over 40 years.
“This is actually privatizing the golf course’s land,” he said.
Recently, the Hanoi People’s Committee has approved a plan to build a golf course in Gia Lam airport, which requires the reclamation of a large area of paddy land.
Contravening Prime Minister’s order?
Commenting on this, he said this land reclamation for the Gia Lam project is against the Prime Minister’s order that golf courses must not be built on land meant for agricultural production.
But since investors claim that the farmland there has been earmarked for non-agricultural purposes in the next few years, their reclamations for the future golf course are legal.
Hung called on the authorities to prioritize their citizens’ needs first before approving any golf course projects.
“There is no shortage of golf courses in Hanoi and HCMC,” he said. “But these two cities are seeing a severe lack of places for the recreation for young people and the elderly, as well as green areas.”
“They are planning to build a golf course in Long Bien District, but are there adequate playgrounds for children there?”
He also emphasized on the need to have an independent unit to evaluate every golf course plan before ratification.
“It would not be objective and transparent if the projects are evaluated and approved only by the local authorities,” he said.
Early this year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment found out there were an extra 39 golf course development projects that were not included in the national plan approved by the Prime Minister in 2009.
Hoang Ngoc Phong, deputy head of the ministry’s Development Strategy Institute said that under the Golf Course Development Plan of Vietnam to 2020, only 90 golf courses would be built countrywide by 2020.
Tran Ngoc Hung, head of the Vietnam Federation of Civil Engineering Association, urged the government to be more careful in approving golf course projects.
Though recognizing the necessity of golf courses as a leisure place for foreign investors and diplomats in a developed Vietnam, Hung said it is the quantity and locations of the courses that need to be considered.
Since Vietnam has a very high population density in Asia, the government should save lands for other necessary uses rather than building so many golf courses.
The country is planning to build one in both the Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City and the Gia Lam airport in Hanoi.
As many golf courses in Vietnam earn just modest profits compared to their huge initial investments, there is another purpose in building them, Hung revealed.
Real estate investment is the real aim of the golf developers because this kind of sport can enjoy special tax policy and other special treatments, he elaborated.
Accompanying each small golf course are hundreds of villas and apartments, which – by virtue of the sport playground – enjoy special treatment also, he explained.
He suggested the government think twice before approving golf course projects to stop such disguised real estate projects.
At present, the government has already prohibited the trading of lands and villas within the golf course’s area to crackdown on the problem.
But the investors can still lease out their lands and villas, and some people have taken advantage of this to rent a villas or land plots there for over 40 years.
“This is actually privatizing the golf course’s land,” he said.
Recently, the Hanoi People’s Committee has approved a plan to build a golf course in Gia Lam airport, which requires the reclamation of a large area of paddy land.
Contravening Prime Minister’s order?
Commenting on this, he said this land reclamation for the Gia Lam project is against the Prime Minister’s order that golf courses must not be built on land meant for agricultural production.
But since investors claim that the farmland there has been earmarked for non-agricultural purposes in the next few years, their reclamations for the future golf course are legal.
Hung called on the authorities to prioritize their citizens’ needs first before approving any golf course projects.
“There is no shortage of golf courses in Hanoi and HCMC,” he said. “But these two cities are seeing a severe lack of places for the recreation for young people and the elderly, as well as green areas.”
“They are planning to build a golf course in Long Bien District, but are there adequate playgrounds for children there?”
He also emphasized on the need to have an independent unit to evaluate every golf course plan before ratification.
“It would not be objective and transparent if the projects are evaluated and approved only by the local authorities,” he said.
Early this year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment found out there were an extra 39 golf course development projects that were not included in the national plan approved by the Prime Minister in 2009.
Hoang Ngoc Phong, deputy head of the ministry’s Development Strategy Institute said that under the Golf Course Development Plan of Vietnam to 2020, only 90 golf courses would be built countrywide by 2020.
