Time to invest in Cham Isle Investors understand well that Cham Isle is in no way inferior to Phu Quoc Island in terms of landscapes and the nature quality. The land here is very cheap, while the local authorities have vowed to develop the tourism on the isle. The golden land for investors Cham Isle, or Cu Lao Cham as called by Vietnamese, is really a wonderful place to visit. The only thing that makes people hesitant to go there is the electricity outage. The electricity supply on Cu Lao Cham is unstable. In summer, the electricity supply is not sufficient for local residents, let alone tourists. According to Bui Van Kieu, Head of the Electricity Supply Management Unit, there are three electricity generation units, which can provide electricity six hours a day with a limited capacity. The electricity shortage explains why the wonderful isle, which was recognized by UNESCO as the world’s biosphere reserve in 2009, where there are beautiful beaches, still cannot attract tourists. Only 100,000 tourists came there in 2012, while 1.4 million came to Hoi An ancient town, a nearby destination. And the travelers came and left within the day. They arrived at 9 am and left at 3 pm. Very few travelers, especially foreigners, stay there overnight, except those who like the feeling of making adventures, or the newly married couples who want to stay in deserted places and don’t care much about home comforts. However, the situation would be different in the future. The local authorities have vowed to electrify Cu Lao Cham, bringing power to the isle to attract more tourists there. According to Hoang Duy, a journalist and an expert, the project on transmitting power to Cu Lao Cham costs VND135-145 billion. The capital could be from three sources, including the Hoi An City, Quang Nam province and the government under the East Sea – Islands program. Time to make investment It’s still unclear when the project would kick off. However, it’s now the right time for nimble-footed investors to spend money to develop their projects. Analysts have noted that investors can buy land now, which is very cheap because the place remains deserted, and build guest houses – the kind of traditional “thatched cottage” with modern facilities and air conditioners, better equipped than the existing guest houses on Cu Lao Cham. It is expected that the land price would increase rapidly in the near future, when the isle could use the power from the national power grid. By that time, the travelers to Hoi An ancient town would drop into Cu Lao Cham, the beautiful illuminated isle. The risks Experts all believe that the risks are relatively low for the investment projects on Cu Lao Cham. Especially, the investors would have great advantage when developing the projects there, because Hoi An City’s authorities have decided to develop the local tourism-based economy. Nguyen Su, Secretary of the Hoi An City Communist Party Committee, has been known as the person who supports green tourism. The highest investment risk is that tourists would not like visiting Hoi An ancient town one day, i.e. that they would not visit Cu Lao Cham neither. However, the risk proves to be very low. Cu Lao Cham is in no way inferior to Phu Quoc Island in terms of the beauty and the attractiveness. If the local authorities can run effective advertisement campaigns and successfully bring power to the isle, Cu Lao Cham may become a second Phu Quoc in the future. Source: NCDT