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Place your bets on Phu Quoc casino A new master plan is being developed for Phu Quoc island. The chairman of the Kien Giang provincial People’s Committee, Bui Ngoc Suong, spoke to the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper about possible changes. How do the changes compare to the first plan? Phu Quoc island will be soon upgraded into a special administrative region. With its important role in national defence and security as well as its potential to become a regional and international bio-tourism destination, the Government has instructed the Minister of Construction and Kien Giang People’s Committee to seek international consultancy companies to revise the island’s existing development master plan with a vision toward 2030 and beyond. We’ve received one proposal from the American Consultant company WATG, which claims it is the world’s number one hospitality design firm. It says the island should be divided into five key functional areas - urban, national, forest protection, tourism and transportation.
Phu Quoc island will be soon upgraded into a special administrative region. The tourism area would consist of several beaches that have been described as "the golden land" of the island, such as Truong, Vong, Dai, Sao and Thom beaches. Other projects would include ports, industrial parks, golf courses and a casino will be built at various relevant locations. It is planned that the island would have a population of about 540,000 people. At present, only about 100,000 live there. Do you think the changes will have negative impacts on projects presently underway? Of course, there will be some impacts, but I don’t think that they will be very serious. Several projects granted licences are presently under construction. Fortunately, they are all small in scale. Large ones, mostly tourism in nature, are still waiting for the completion of infrastructure development under the final development plan. They include projects for the Tructsse Corporation from Switzerland, and the Viet Nam Starbay company – an affiliate of British Tarbay Holdings Ltd. Phu Quoc island is known for its forests and sea. How will these be treated in the new master plan? The great attractions of the island are its maritime-eco system, forests and landscape. At present the forests have been zoned off in order to protect and conserve them. But we’ve asked the consultants to consider letting tourists make sight-seeing tours in the forests at certain times or go diving in the coral reefs with tourist guides. Our point of view is crystal clear that tourism can be developed in conservation areas, but not to their detriment. What’s about the plan of building a casino on the island? The consultants have suggested that we should build a casino on the island. But many scientists and investors say the island is not an ideal place to build a casino. Should Phu Quoc get the permit to build the casino or not, we’re still waiting for comments from relevant agencies. So far we have received support from the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Construction. Next week we’ll consult with the Ministry of Finance and then submit the proposal for the construction of the casino to the Prime Minister for approval. The Kien Giang People’s Committee wants a casino to make tourism more diversified. Is it correct that many investors have expressed an interest in investing in the casino? Yes! We’ve received many letters of interest from investors. Most of them are foreigners. Some investors have stated in the letters that they’re willing to spend their own money on infrastructure development, such as electricity and water supplies from the mainland. What’s the current status of the island’s infrastructure? The Government and Kien Giang province have focused their efforts on building Duong To airport, the main roads and some essential infrastructure. The construction of the airport was commenced last November and half the work has been completed. It is to be operational by mid 2012. Main ring roads and arteries on the island are under construction. If things go smoothly, the north-south artery will be completed later this year. For power, the Viet Nam Coal and Mineral Industries (Vinacomin) will invest in building a thermal power plant and lay a cable system under the sea from Ha Tien town on the mainland to the Phu Quoc island. VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
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