Residents hold back Marriott

Residents hold back Marriott Ngoc Linh | vir.com.vn | Aug 14, 2012 08:22 am US-based ITC Spectrum LLC continues facing residents’ ire against its site clearance for a $250 million Marriott International resort project in central Binh Dinh province. Man Ngoc Ly, director at Binh Dinh Economic Zone Management Authority, said the provincial authority and the developer had not reached a compensation agreement with many households living in the Vinh Hoi tourism project site. “At the end last year, local residents agreed to take compensation cash and leave their home for resettlement areas. But they have changed their mind and asked for higher compensation,” said Ly. In the past two weeks Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee, Binh Dinh Economic Zone Management Authority and the developer had meetings with residents to negotiate compensation costs. However, Ly said the negotiations were not finished. “We have not reached a final agreement with local residents,” said Ly. Vinh Hoi tourism complex is among the first projects registered in Nhon Hoi Economic Zone in 2007, now known as Binh Dinh Economic Zone. ITC Spectrum LLC develops this project through a wholly-owned subsidiary Vietnamese-American Hotel and Resort Limited Company. In 2010, Marriott International signed a management agreement with the US developer to manage the project under two luxury hotel brands including Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott. According to Marriott International, the 325 hectare project will be an oceanfront, fully-integrated, mixed-use development including three resorts, a championship 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones II, residential villas, a retail village, an arboretum and other recreational amenities. However, until now, the developer and local authority have cleared only 135 out of 325ha. Total site clearance cost is about VND200 billion ($10 million). This cost will be covered by the developer and then it will get refunds through land rental exemption when the project is operational. Actually, the developer started building infrastructure system in the cleared site such as internal roads several months ago. But, Ly said this work was stalled because of the protest from local residents.