However, after nearly 10 years of approval, the project has not yet been implemented, causing waste of resources and negative impacts on the locality.
Key projects behind schedule
tea island - Cau Cau (now in Hoa Quan commune, Nghe An province) has long been known as an outstanding scenic spot of Nghe An. The comfortable, lush green tea hills floating in the middle of the lake create a unique landscape, once considered "Ha Long on the shore". With ecological advantages and location adjacent to the Ho Chi Minh road, this area is assessed to have the potential to develop many types of tourism such as eco-tourism, resorts, community experiences.
From those advantages, in February 2017, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee approved the investment policy for the tea Island - Cau Cau Mixed-use Tourism, Service and Resort Project; and in December 2017, approved the detailed construction plan. The investor is CIENCO4 Group Joint Stock Company.
According to the plan, the project has a scale of more than 370 hectares, deployed in Thanh An and Thanh Thinh communes (before the arrangement of administrative units), with a series of items such as resorts, hotels, villas, entertainment services. The progress is expected, phase 1 will be completed in 2017 and the entire project will be completed in October 2022.
Contrary to initial expectations, the project has not yet implemented any construction items. The only activity recorded is the investor's agreement to compensate and compensate for site clearance with an area of 25.8 hectares, equivalent to about 9% of the total project area, with a total value of more than 10.7 billion VND.
Since 2019, the local government has repeatedly issued documents reflecting the project's slow progress. By 2022, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district (old) continued to report that the project was not implemented, recommending departments and branches to inspect and handle it according to the law. In 2023, 2024, the petition was repeated, but the project had no substantial changes.
Do not let the project "suspend" for a long time, causing land waste
Faced with the situation of a project being behind schedule for a long time, in 2025, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Nghe An province issued a document proposing to include the tea Island - Cau Cau Mixed-use Tourism, Service and Resort Project in the list of projects that need to be inspected.
According to the tourism industry, the Tea Island - Cau Cau has a particularly important position and potential in the Nghe An Tourism Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2035. If the project continues to be "frozen", the province will lack space and new tourism products to attract tourists, directly affecting the goal of sustainable tourism development.
The viewpoint is clearly stated: either the investor continues to implement the project in a practical way, or needs to terminate operations, revoke the issued legal documents to select a new, more suitable investor.
At the end of 2025, Nghe An Department of Finance issued a document requesting departments, branches and localities to comprehensively review projects that are behind schedule and not implemented, in order to synthesize and advise the Provincial People's Committee to establish an interdisciplinary inspection team and approve the inspection list in 2026.
According to the plan, projects using non-budgetary capital and being behind schedule for a long time, including the tea Island - Cau Cau Mixed-use and Resort Service and Tourism Project, will be considered for classification, evaluation and specific handling options.
The leader of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee affirmed that the province always creates maximum favorable conditions for investors to implement projects in accordance with legal regulations, but resolutely handles projects that are behind schedule and overdue. Projects that have lasted for many years and are not implemented, causing waste of land resources, affecting development planning and people's lives will be considered for revocation in accordance with regulations.
