Construction of the Nha Trang Star entertainment complex by the Nha Trang Star JSC has been delayed since 2014 and the licence has now been scrapped. — Photo tuoitre.vn

The central coastal Khanh Hoa Province’s Department of Planning and Investment has decided to withdraw the licence it had issued for the US$33 million Nha Trang Star entertainment complex due to tardy progress.

The project, covering more than 100,000 square metres on Pham Van Dong Street along Nha Trang Bay, was approved in 2012.

The complex was to have had a theme park, a sporting venue, a port and hotels, according to the department.

Begun in October 2014, it was scheduled for completion at the end of 2016. But the investors merely dug up land and left it almost empty, though surrounded by one-metre high metal sheets.

In December 2015 the developer, Nha Trang Star JSC, was found to have illegally encroached on more than 22,000 square metres in the bay area near the protected historic site of Hon Do Island.

The company was fined VND225 million ($9,900) for a range of violations, including illegal use of historic relics and failure to carry out environmental monitoring and announce environmental management plans prior to implementation.

It was also slapped with fines by the Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Construction, and Planning and Investment.

Provincial authorities had ordered the company in 2016 to amend the project design to turn the encroached area into greenery but to no avail.

On top of all the violations, the company had sold the project to a buyer without reporting to the Department of Planning and Investment. — VNS