Vietnam’s US$5 billion Apec island is running out of time

Ahead of next year’s Apec summit, Vietnam has a grand plan to transform Phu Quoc, its largest island, into Southeast Asia’s leading conference and exhibition…

Ahead of next year’s Apec summit, Vietnam has a grand plan to transform Phu Quoc, its largest island, into Southeast Asia’s leading conference and exhibition hub.

The 137 trillion dong (US$5.2 billion) blueprint includes an airport overhaul, a light-rail line, clusters of luxury hotels and a brand-new sewerage system – much of it paid for by one of the country’s largest conglomerates, in return for tracts of land, operating concessions and the cachet of building national landmarks.

But problems are stacking up 18 months before world leaders are set to descend on Phu Quoc for the November 2027 summit.

Construction sites are short of workers, building materials and diesel. The 18km boulevard meant to connect the airport to the summit complex is unfinished. And not a single new hotel room has been built.

Phu Quoc’s problems are partly the result of the region-wide energy crisis resulting from the Strait of Hormuz’s closure amid the Iran war.

Vietnam’s President To Lam at the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai, India, this month. Photo: EPA

But they are also symptoms of a development model that Vietnam’s leader To Lam is staking the country’s future on: one dependent on private conglomerates to finance megaprojects, in return for land and credit, as the secret sauce for a “new era” of growth.

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