Chairman of Nam Bay Bay talked about the reason why the resort project in Binh Thuan was delayed by more than 10 years

One of the important issues that shareholders asked questions to the board of directors of Nam Bay Bay Investment Joint Stock Company (Code: NBB) at the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is the progress and implementation plan of the De Lagi project (Lagi town, Binh Thuan Province).

This is one of the company’s three key projects from now until 2028, besides NBB II high-rise apartment complex (more than 1,400 apartments in Binh Chanh district, Ho Chi Minh City) and NBB Garden III high-rise apartment complex ( 2,267 apartments in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City).

In 2008, De Lagi was first introduced by NBB as a luxury resort with a scale of 274 hectares, total investment of 2,487 billion VND and expected to be implemented in 9 years (2008 – 2016). Total expected revenue is 2,180 billion VND.

In 2009, the project was granted an investment certificate and approved detailed planning of 1/500. According to the investment certificate adjusted in 2014, the project is planned to have a land area of ​​nearly 125 hectares (residential area construction area is 84.6 hectares, tourist area construction area is nearly 40 hectares…). Since 2016, NBB has received more than 319 billion VND in capital contribution to the project from its partner, Ho Chi Minh City Technical Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company (Code: CII).

After many adjustments, it was not until September 2020 that the project began construction and has not yet come into operation. Earlier this year, the project was approved 1/500 according to the most recent adjusted planning.

According to Mr. Luu Hai Ca, Chairman of the Board of Directors, “This delay is not the fault of anyone’s intention. There are things that could have been done many years ago, but we realized that it was not safe and had many risks, so we accepted to extend the time so that all future project legalities would comply with the law. Recently, there have been hot issues related to land use fees and urban planning in all localities”.

The Board of Management believes that when planning this project in the period 2011 – 2014, there were many products that brought great economic benefits to investors but came with many risks as in reality, so the project was forced to planning must be adjusted.

“De Lagi project is in the case where the State recovers land and allocates land to businesses. Having gone through two land fevers from 2011 to 2020, the land prices issued by the State are no longer consistent with market fluctuations, causing confusion and wavering in the thinking of people in the project area. In recent times, the company has not asked the State for enforcement because this affects people’s livelihoods”, NBB Chairman said.

Up to now, NBB has been allocated 72/125 hectares of project land, including 8 hectares that the company has compensated for in 2023 and early this year. This year, the investor will stop compensation work and focus on final planning adjustments for the remaining area.

“It is expected that by June 2024, the project will complete infrastructure construction. From the third quarter of 2024, tourism products, trade services and possibly some other products will be built. By the end of 2025, the project will complete all items and go into operation. The business will follow the roadmap and ensure compliance with legal regulations. This project can bring in revenue of more than 10,000 billion VND,” Chairman Luu Hai Ca updated the project development plan to shareholders.

Regarding the proposal to increase the total investment of the project to 11,800 billion VND because “doing a normal segment is not effective and cannot compete”, Mr. Luu Hai Ca said after the Board of Directors and the Executive Board Meeting again, the Board of Directors asked to adjust and approve the total investment of the De Lagi project of VND 2,725 billion in accordance with the actual requirements of 2024 and the project was approved.

“However, based on the De Lagi project’s orientation to become a high-end resort, in which it cooperates with reputable brands to complete and develop, the General Meeting of Shareholders assigned the Board of Directors to build a detailed total investment. (including costs for land use, compensation, construction, management, consulting…) in accordance with the new orientation and submitted to the General Meeting of Shareholders for approval. Maybe not 11,000 billion but 14,000 billion, 15,000 billion or another number”, Mr. Luu Hai Ca noted.

By the end of 2023, NBB has invested more than VND 845 billion in the De Lagi project.