On April 25, the Department of Information and Communications of Lam Dong province held a conference to provide information to the press about activities at the Samten Hills Dalat project of Kim Phat Production - Trading Company Limited in Don Duong district.
This comes from recent public opinion that this is a project with "ambiguity" between a religious activity project and a spiritual cultural tourism area.
Samten Hills Dalat spiritual and cultural tourism area was inaugurated in March 2023. Photo: Samten Hills Dalat.
Responding to the press, Mr. Le Quang Trung, Director of the Department of Construction, said that this is a multi-functional project including afforestation, forest care and protection, animal husbandry, experiential tourism and later added spiritual and cultural tourism.
The project area of 220 hectares is divided into 10 sub-areas, of which one sub-area of about 6 hectares has the function of spiritual tourism, Samten Hills Dalat. In this sub-area, businesses are allowed to do spiritual cultural tourism and then combine it with resorts.
He analyzed that spiritual cultural tourism oriented towards a religion will have architecture in the direction of that religion. Here, the most important issue is whether the project has religious activities or not, and how to manage the activities to avoid exploitation. "Therefore, in the construction permit issued by the Department of Construction, there are "symbolic works. This is a very new type of tourism and the trend will develop very well" - Mr. Trung said.
Regarding handling violations of construction order, the Department of Construction has delegated authority to the locality, and a number of violations have been recorded and punished by the People's Committee of Don Duong district. The Department of Construction has also inspected two construction sites of the project and discovered that the construction was not in accordance with the design. However, these violations do not fall under the category of demolition, and the investor has fully complied.
Regarding the information promoting Samten Hills Dalat as an "Indian temple", Mr. Tran Hong Quyet - Director of the Department of Internal Affairs of Lam Dong province, affirmed: "This is only a spiritual and cultural tourist destination, not a religious facility, all religious activities at Samten Hills Dalat are not allowed".
Regarding the issue of selling tickets to visit Samten Hills Dalat, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Nhi, Deputy Director of the Department of Finance, said that the ticket price here is 250,000 VND/adult, 180,000 VND/child and people over 65 years old, some subjects are exempted or have reduced ticket prices. The Department of Finance requested Samten Hills Joint Stock Company to provide full documents for appraisal.
"It is known that the company has collected the ticket price. The Department requested the company to supplement the documents. In case the authorities inspect and discover any violations, the company will be responsible according to the law," said Mr. Nhi.
Concluding the meeting, Mr. Ngo Van Ninh - Chief of Office of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee - shared that the projects that the public is interested in implementing also prove the development of the province in recent times, diversifying tourism products to serve the people and tourists. The Samten Hills Dalat project has also contributed to changing the appearance and life of the people in Tu Tra commune because before, this was an area with harsh weather, lots of rocks, and remote roads.
According to Mr. Ninh, the Central agencies have inspected the site, worked with the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee and will have a conclusion later. The initial inspection has not detected any violations.
"They are worried and warn the province to strengthen management work on whether there is worship here or not, whether there are religious activities or not. Up to now, there have only been a few violations as reported by the Department of Construction, the rest are the investors doing the right thing. The province's viewpoint is that from now on in management work, businesses are required to operate according to project objectives and absolutely not to worship or practice religion here. The authorities will be assigned to continuously inspect, if violations are discovered, they will be strictly handled according to the law" - Mr. Ninh affirmed.
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