Unfinished project, golden land becomes a wasteland
Oriented to become a national and international-scale tourist center, Phong Nha commune is experiencing many projects that have been allocated land but are slow to implement, even abandoned for a long time.
According to the review of Phong Nha Commune People's Committee, the whole area has 19 tourism projects in locations considered golden land. However, only 4 projects have been put into operation, 6 projects have been revoked, and the remaining 9 projects are behind schedule or "covered in tarpaulins" for many years.
This situation shows that the land use efficiency is not commensurate with the potential of the gateway area of Phong Nha - Ke Bang World Natural Heritage. The main reason is that the capacity of some investors is still limited, problems with site clearance, along with difficulties in procedures and planning.
Typically, the Ecobana Project of Phong Nha Green Travel Co., Ltd. on Road 20 Quyet Thang, approved in 2017 with an area of more than 8,300 m2, has not been completed yet. Items such as restaurants, hotels, swimming pools are under construction and then stopped. The campus is abandoned, many items are degraded.
Similarly, the Phong Nha Resort and Entertainment Project of Van Minh Do Thi Co., Ltd. was allocated land from 2004 with a scale of about 50 hectares. After more than 20 years, the project is still stalled. Although nearly 48 hectares have been compensated and a land use right certificate of 4.8 hectares has been issued, the investor only built a two-story building in 2019 and then stopped. In the campus, a stone pillar carved with betel and areca nuts is lying barely in the middle of the wasteland. Notably, on the 32m road in the center of Phong Nha, there are many projects that have been allocated land for many years but are still "motionless".
Review and thoroughly handle slow-progress projects
Besides stalled projects, many projects in Phong Nha are being implemented on schedule or have been restarted after a period of delay. Among them, the Xuan Son Farmstay Project in Na residential group, Phong Nha commune, which was granted investment policy in 2016, has been restarted from mid-2025 after a long period of delay. Currently, the items are gradually being completed.
The project is located on a land plot with a convenient location, by the Son River, surrounded by limestone mountains and opposite the Phong Nha - Ke Bang Tourist Center.
According to the leader of Phong Nha Commune People's Committee, Phong Nha - Ke Bang is being oriented to become a national and international-scale tourist center. In 2025, this area welcomed nearly 1 million visitors, showing increasing attraction.
However, many projects are behind schedule and abandoned for a long time, creating great pressure. Not only causing waste of land resources, this situation also directly affects the landscape, environment and tourism image.
Mr. Phan Hai Ha - Chairman of Phong Nha Commune People's Committee - said that the locality has reported to superiors and requested a comprehensive review of the projects, assessed the capacity of investors, and clarified the problems. The projects will be classified by group of causes to have appropriate handling directions. Projects that are still viable for implementation will be considered for conditional extension, associated with specific progress commitments.
For projects that are not implemented or are prolonged for many years, the locality proposes to recover them to hand over to other more capable investors. "The locality's point of view is not to waste land resources. Projects that are not capable must be replaced by more suitable investors" - Mr. Ha affirmed.
