Sa Pa, a famous resort town in the northern Vietnamese province of Lao Cai known for its tranquil and romantic atmosphere and marvelous natural landscapes, has been turned into a massive construction site, with numerous new hotels and buildings being built.
Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper has visited the world renowned town last weekend, only to see the area filled with noise and dust from a number of construction sites, and piles of construction materials put across streets.
There are several short streets where three to four construction units are underway, and tourists tend to be woken up early in the morning thanks to the irritating sounds of drills, running trucks and concrete mixing machines.
At the Phan Xi Pang Street in the town’s central area, several tower cranes are seen amid the construction site of a major hotel complex. A few hundred meters away from that site is where three different hotel projects, each with five to eight stories, are being built.
On Cau May Street, sitting behind the headquarters of the town’s administration, a multi-story building is also under construction, and around the central lake of the town now lie piles of bricks and concrete blocks.
Visitors to Sa Pa can now hardly experience the tranquil atmosphere the town used to take pride in, as the sound of construction will annoy them day and night.

Trinh Xuan Truong, director of the Lao Cai construction department, confirmed to Tuoi Tre that some 180 new construction projects have been licensed in Sa Pa.
The Sa Pa administration is in charge of issuing construction licenses for new houses and small hotels and restaurants, whereas bigger projects must be licensed by the construction department, Truong added.
The department head underlined that all under-construction high-rise projects in Sa Pa have been properly licensed.
“Their heights meet the limits set by the planning for the town, and all legal procedures have been appropriately completed,” Truong said.
However, Truong also admitted that the pollution caused by the mass construction is worth worrying.
“The town administration is to take responsible for this,” he said. “We are planning to work with the Sa Pa administration to resolve this issue.”
Below are some photos of Sa Pa these days, taken by Tuoi Tre.

An under-construction hotel is seen on Phan Xi Pang Street.

Construction materials put in piles in front of a local house.

There are three to four construction sites on this short street.

Locals have to water the street in front of their houses to prevent dusts every morning.

The town’s central lake is now the gathering-place for construction materials.
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