Nha Trang Airport is located in the center of Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, with an area of nearly 240 hectares. Prior to 2004, it was a civilian airport, however, due to limitations in size and its proximity to residential areas, it did not meet safety requirements and was closed.
In 2009, the Ministry of Defense and Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee submitted a proposal to convert the land use purpose of Nha Trang Airport, which was approved by the Prime Minister. Subsequently, Khanh Hoa province issued decisions to implement various BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects by “exchanging” the land of Nha Trang Airport to recover investments for investors. After receiving the land, the investor subdivided it and conducted the construction of an urban area.
By the end of 2015, the Ministry of Defense had transferred approximately 62.89/238.82 hectares of military land to Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee. The remaining area is still under the management of the Ministry of Defense. After receiving the land, Khanh Hoa province handed it over to Phuc Son Group Joint Stock Company to carry out the project of Nha Trang Commercial – Service – Finance – Tourism Urban Center (Nha Trang urban area).
Although the BOT contracts have not been completed, after receiving the airport land, Phuc Son Group divided it into smaller lots for business purposes. Conducting real estate business without meeting the necessary conditions violated the legal provisions, so Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee fined them 275 million dong.
In addition, the Government Inspectorate also discovered violations during the process of land allocation for the Nha Trang urban area project.
According to the inspection conclusions, Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee received land from the Ministry of Defense and handed it over to Phuc Son Group without having decisions on land recovery, land allocation, and land leasing, which is not in accordance with regulations. The Government Inspectorate recommended that the Prime Minister direct the leadership of Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee (2014-2019 period) to seriously review and propose strict legal measures. At the same time, the province should promptly rectify the violations.
The unfinished state of the project over the years.
Currently, violations related to projects and land at Nha Trang Airport have been transferred by Khanh Hoa Provincial Police to the investigation agency under the Ministry of Defense for consideration and handling according to their jurisdiction.
On February 26, 2024, the Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security initiated a case of “Serious consequences-causing accounting violations” at Phuc Son Group Joint Stock Company, Thang Long Investment, Trading, and Real Estate Joint Stock Company, and related units.
