In addition to a golf course which has recently been approved to be built inside Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport, another is planned for Hanoi’s Gia Lam Airport.

The 1/2,000-scale model of the Long Bien golf course and services project has already been approved by the Hanoi People’s Committee, and the investor – the Long Bien Investment Corporation - is seeking approval for a 1/500-scale plan.

According to the approved plan, the golf course is to be built in a 117-hectare area spanning Phuc Dong, Gia Thuy and Long Bien wards of Long Bien District.

The project’s 1/500-ratio blueprint also includes a complex of restaurants, villas, apartments and other accompanying services to be built alongside the golf course.

Le Van Cuong, head of Phuc Dong Ward People’s Committee, told Tuoi Tre locals have been informed that their lands would be reclaimed to give way to the project.

But initial construction of the golf course has already begun in a defense ministry-managed land plot inside Gia Lam airport.

Farmland makes way for golf

Locals in Phuc Dong Ward said they all know of the would-be golf course at the airport.

They also showed Tuoi Tre the artificial lakes, hills and lawns which have already been designed to serve the golf course.

“We are not sure which company will build the golf course,” a local said. “But we know that it will be built in an area where the hills and lakes have already been created.”

Do Manh Hai, head of Long Bien District People’s Committee, told Tuoi Tre that Phuc Dong Ward has the largest area of land to be reclaimed for the project.

But it is worrying since the 42-hectare area that is earmarked for the golf project is being used for agricultural production. The plot is currently managed by Hanoi city’s government.

Le Van Cuong said Phuc Dong Ward would lose all of its 26 hectares of double-cropping paddy fields for the project.

Another 5.7 hectares of agricultural land in neighboring Gia Thuy Ward will also be reclaimed, according to Gia Thuy Ward People’s Committee.

Asked why farmland is used to build a golf course, Do Manh Hai said localities at district level are “zoned to have no paddy land”.

Agricultural land would be converted to serve urban purposes such as building parks, houses or public constructions, he added.

“According to the plan, Long Bien District will have no land for agriculture production in the coming time,” he informed.

Source: Tuoi Tre