Winvest Investment LLC Group of the United States late last week received a license to build a US$300-mil tourism site in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, according to the Foreign Investment Agency of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau has attracted US$330mil in foreign direct investment in the first three months this year.

Agency director Phan Huu Thang told the Daily that among licensed foreign tourism project, the site had the biggest investment capital in Vietnam.

Thang said the 300-ha Saigon Atlantis Hotel at Cua Lap, six kilometers east of Vung Tau City, would include an entertainment park.

Construction is expected to start in the third quarter of this year.

Thang said the project would comprise the five-star hotel with 800 to 1,200 rooms, villas, recreational facilities, shopping centers, restaurants and a slot machine area for foreigners.

Winvest representative Tran Van Son had said earlier that if the project was approved, it would be implemented in three phases that could take up to five years.

In the first phase, the Saigon Atlantis Hotel capitalized at US$150mil will be built.

In the second phase, restaurants, a golf course, 70 to 80 villas with gardens, a helicopter landing pad and a bank will follow.

Swimming pools, water park, boat-racing zone, theater, trading center, duty-free shopping and exhibition space will come in the last phase.

The company plans to be the sole investor in the project, whose license lasts 50 years. Winvest plans to ask for a 30-year extension.

The project will provide jobs for 15,000 to 20,000 people. According to the company, Cua Lap is a good area for developing an international tourist park.

Winvest has already submitted another US$300-mil tourism proposal to the Lam Dong People's Committee in the central highlands province.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau has attracted US$330mil in foreign direct investment in the first three months this year, according to a deputy head of the province's Service of Planning and Investment.

(Source: STD)