Da Nang (VNA) - Thecentral city of Da Nang has suspended illegal construction of a coastaleco-tourism project in the Son Tra Nature Reserve, the city’s Construction Departmentsaid.

The Bien Tien Sa Joint-Stock Company project has completedconstruction of 40 foundations of villas by military construction company No319. But Vice Chairman of the Son Tra district’s People’s Committee, Nguyen ThanhNam, said the infrastructure construction licence for the project had not beenapproved yet by the city.

“The construction contractor of the project intentionally startedbuilding infrastructure of inner traffic road, foundation of 40 villas,destroying all trees in the area north of Son Tra Mountain from 2016,” Nam saidat a news briefing on March 18.

“The project has been under assessment of an environment impactprocess, however, the project owner started building the project while awaitingfinal decision from the city,” he said.

Guards prevented local reporters from approaching the project,10km away from the city’s centre.

The project, being built on 1,472sq.m with a total investment of 9.7million USD, is planned to include 56 luxury mountainside villas. The city’sagriculture and rural development had already allowed the project owner tocollect firewood and trees in the area for land clearance.

Conservationists from the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation(GreenViet), an NGO, said a series of construction projects and poor managementby the local administration would damage the nature reserve that provides foodfor wildlife.

The Son Tra Nature Reserve, which is 600m above sea level, isknown for its rich biodiversity, with 287 animal species and 985 plant species.The reserve has shrunk from more than 4,400ha to 2,500ha to make room fordozens of resorts and hotels in the area.

Tran Huu Vy, director of GreenViet, said the reserve and bufferzone are home to nearly 300 red-shanked douc langurs (Pygathrix nemaeus), whichwere declared endangered by the International Union for the Conservation ofNature (IUCN) in 2013.

According to GreenViet’s latest survey, over 20 streams in thereserve have dried up – the worst in 20 years. Vy also suggested that the citycreate a special programme to protect biodiversity in the forest, as well asform an effective and uniform management team to handle illegal hunting andlogging.

“It’s an urgent action, or biodiversity in the reserve will soondwindle,” Vy said. “A checkpoint should be set up to control visitors at threemain entrances into the Son Tra reserve, because over 10,000 visitors come tothe reserve monthly.”

Last month, authorities asked local residents to demolish 68illegally built houses, villas and restaurants in the Son Tra Nature Reservebefore a September deadline. Violations including illegal logging and huntingwere recorded in recent years, due to poor management by the Son Tra-Ngu HanhSon forest protection sub-department.

The reserve is managed by different agencies, including the Son Tra-NguHanh Son forest protection sub-department, Tho Quang ward’s administration, SonTra peninsula’s management board of beaches and tourism and the Border Guard,Air Defence and Navy. 

Earlier this year, the Government agreed to include the Son TraMountain as a national tourism site that will host a luxury eco-tour resortcomplex and 4.6 million tourists in 2030. Plans call for 1,600 luxury hotelrooms to accommodate 300,000 tourists with expected revenues of 4.3 trillion VND(190.3 million USD).

As planned, the Son Tra Mountain, which covers an area of 4,439ha,will have 1,056ha earmarked for development as a national eco-tourism andluxury resort in central Vietnam. 

In other news related to illegal construction projects in Son Tradistrict, the central city also decided to suspend a condotel project on thecoastal strip of Vo Nguyen Giap Street.

The city’s construction department said the 43-storey CentralCoast project, which was built by Minh Dong company with total investment of 1.2trillion VND (53 million USD), has completed construction of 10 floors since2016.

Although the project still lacks a construction licence due toland ownership complications, the investors had illegally begun construction,according to a report by the construction department. The project was fined 42million VND (1,600 USD).

Last year, the city decided to suspend illegal construction of anapartment project in the city’s downtown Hai Chau district.-VNA