More and more criticism on golf course

Vinh said people had their top reasons to protest the creation of courses. However, the federal government has produced a determination to prevent the creation of the "problematic" golf courses.

"Golf courses is going to be only in a position to develop on sandy or fallow land, barren hills and in places where have fantastic potentials to build up tourism," said Vinh.

"Golf is blamed when planning on taking arable land, making farmers jobless, and threatening national food security... However, the existing situation is a thing different," said Hoang Ngoc Phong, deputy Titleist 712 AP1 Irons head with the MPI's Institute for Development Strategies.

Phong said inside master plan for growth and development of golf courses by 2020, Viet Nam could have 90 golf courses in 34 cities and provinces, each covering around 71 ha, mainly on infertile land.

According to MPI's figures, the total land area reserved for the 90 golf courses reaches 6,300ha, including 2 per cent of rice fields. No land that grows two-crops of rice a year has become reserve for courses, it claims.

In another online dialogue with the public on March 22, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat, affirmed that land for agricultural production was lost to projects like courses and industrial parks.

"Bad programming is always to blame," said Vinh.

However , the course developers have experimented with use the land area allocated to the the game projects for doing Ping G20 irons property business. Therefore, the concept of developing a new form of sports to satisfy the need for tourists and foreign investors may be exploited legitimate estate trading.

Vinh said that within the time, relevant agencies may not only look at the licensed courses, but in addition take tough measures against the game projects that had been transformed into real estate property projects.

He considered that while using new strict regulations, greens projects would be "cleaner" as well as in due length of time, "vindicated".

What this all means is still not very clear, because provincial authorities are actually sending repeated requests for the Government for establishing more courses in their localities. Based on the MPI, documents on 28 golf course projects are already shipped to the ministry.

"There could be no common response to all suggested golf course projects. The federal government will consider every project prior to making a determination, while the MPI will take responsibility for examining the projects' feasibility," said Vinh.

"Golf courses are not liable themselves. Should they be set up in the best positions, they might be capable of bring lots of benefits to people, since they can help attract tourists, create jobs and upgrade the living standards of individuals."

"Golf can be a game for everybody, regardless of age. Presently you will find 7,000 to eight,000 Vietnamese golf players discount golf clubs in the nation," Phong told the Vietnam Investment Review.

The current dialogues failed to address social and environmental problems due to golf courses, like the use of fertilisers and pesticides and the contamination of groundwater resources, in any detail.