French firm Foch Investissements has started building a US$50 million resort on an island off Quang Nam Province on the central coast.

The company said Tam Hai Resort would eventually cover 100 hectares of Tam Hai Island. The project site lies next to a previously isolated fishing village and can be reached by ferry after a 20-minute drive from Chu Lai Airport. It will take some time to build the resort given that it will contain a 200-room hotel, around 200 villas and a shopping center. The plan is to have a dozen villas ready soon and a further 48 thereafter. They will be used for short stay and long-stay accommodation and will be available to buy, hopefully by the Vietnamese experts and managers working in Chu Lai Open Economic Zone and nearby Dung Quat Economic Zone. Foch president Francois Gontier said his company had decided to build the resort in the fishing village because of the scenery and the support from the provincial government. "No groundbreaking today at all because we don't want to do anything harmful to the wild setting here," he added. Foch Investissements is a member of the Eaux et Electricite de Madagascar group, which operates the Victoria hotels and resorts in Vietnam. It also hopes to build a resort on Phu Quoc Island off Vietnam's southwest coast.