HUNG YEN, Vietnam: In Hung Yen province near Hanoi, farmers say they are being offered meager compensation, sometimes just a few thousand dollars and bags of rice, to vacate land earmarked for a US$1.5 billion Trump-branded golf resort.
The 990-hectare project, set to begin construction next month, will displace thousands and transform fruit farms into a luxury development.
Nguyen Thi Huong, 50, was told to leave her 200-square-metre plot for about $3,200 and rice provisions. “The whole village is worried… it will take our land and leave us jobless,” she said. Many farmers, particularly the elderly, fear they will struggle to find new livelihoods.
The project is the Trump family business’s first venture in Vietnam. Local developer Kinhbac City and partners are building the resort after paying the Trump Organization $5 million for brand licensing rights. The Trump family business will operate the club but will not fund the investment or provide farmer compensation.
Sources familiar with the plans said projected payouts, once estimated at over $500 million, have been reduced. Compensation rates flagged to farmers range between $12 and $30 per square metre, plus payments for uprooted crops and rice provisions lasting from two to twelve months, according to documents.
A local official said farmland in the area typically fetches no more than $14 per square metre. In Vietnam’s state-managed land system, farmers hold long-term use rights but have little say when the state reclaims property. Compensation is state-administered but paid by developers, and protests rarely succeed.
Four farmers told Reuters they were unhappy with the proposed rates. “We have no right to negotiate. That’s a shame,” said Do Dinh Huong, who will be paid about $12 per square metre. He said he might have accepted such a low figure for public works like roads, “but this is a business project.”
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh promised fair reimbursement at a May groundbreaking ceremony attended by Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization.
Nguyen Thi Chuc, 54, who grows bananas on a 200-square-metre plot, was told she might receive around $30 per square metre. “I’m getting old and can’t do anything else other than working on the farm,” she said.
Not everyone opposes the project. Some residents and investors believe it will bring higher incomes. Land prices in the village have already quintupled since the October announcement, according to local eatery owner Le Van Tu. He plans to expand his diner into a restaurant to cater to wealthier visitors and welcomed the removal of a nearby pig farm, saying, “It won’t be stinky anymore.”
The final compensation amounts are expected to be approved next month. Until then, farmers like Huong remain anxious: “What can someone like me do after that?”