Myanmar workers lay grass at the Royal Mingalardon Golf Course in Mingalardon township, Yangon, which is tipped to open with a three-hole driving range in October – almost 10 years after work first began on the project in February 1998. Pic: Lwin Maung Maung

AS golf in Asia goes from strength to strength and tourist arrival numbers continue to climb, it is only natural that golf-tourism becomes a larger part of Southeast Asia’s holiday and real-estate landscape.

With this in mind, the Zaykabar Construction Company is putting the finishing touches on a world-class golf course for Yangon that it aims to open in limited form by the end of October.

The Royal Mingalardon Golf Course, as the 21-hole spread of trim greenery, lakes and sand-traps is to be known, will cover about 280 acres of Mingalardon township in Yangon.

Part of Mingalardon Garden City, a 3000-acre housing estate and industrial zone developed by Zaykabar Construction Co., the golf course has been almost a decade in making and will initially offer only a three-hole driving range, according to Zaykabar chairman Dr Khin Shwe. It will be expanded to nine holes by the end of the year before it is fully finished in 2008, he said.

“Thailand attracts millions of visitors a year, especially from South Korea and Japan. They spend a lot of money playing golf and stay for at least one week,” Dr Khin Shwe told The Myanmar Times.

In Vietnam, he added, golf holidays were cheaper and visitors stayed two weeks or longer. “Maybe visitors will stay more than two weeks in Myanmar as it’s cheaper than any other neighbouring country,” he said.

With just 10 golf courses in Yangon, Myanmar’s golfing landscape is wide open for development. Thailand, by comparison, has more than 200 golf courses and 40 in Bangkok alone.

“Myanmar needs to establish many more high-class golf courses to attract international visitors,” said Dr Khin Shwe, who is also president of the Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association (MCEA).

The Royal Mingalardon Golf Course is to be the crown jewel of Mingalardon Garden City’s 1000 acres of suburban housing. Its completion will mark the end of an epic project beset with delays stemming from the Asian financial crisis and Myanmar’s own banking meltdown in 2003.

In March 2004, as work on the project picked up briefly, Dr Khin Shwe had optimistically told The Myanmar Times the course would open with three holes by the end of that year.

But this year, he says, it is really happening.

“We will launch a three-hole driving range for golf practice that 50 people can use at the same time. The driving range is targeted at all age levels,” Dr Khin Shwe said.

A Thai team of golf-course construction experts has been brought in to oversee the project and is being headed by Aphisit Siriwatthana-phaiboon, who said they had chosen the finest materials – mostly from Europe – to create a top-quality green.

“After finishing this golf course, I hope visitors choose Myanmar as a golfing destination because it is significantly cheaper than neighbouring countries,” Aphisit said.

Dr Khin Shwe said hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent on a design by Canada-based golf-course company Nelson & Haworth and the whole project would cost billions kyats.

To lure foreign visitors and those from outside Yangon, a three-star hotel is to be built inside the golf course. Projected to open next year, the hotel will be grouped with a tennis court, swimming pool and club houses.

“Visitors will be able to relax for a week or two while they play golf,” Dr Khin Shwe said.

Zaykabar Construction, however, is facing increasing competition from other developers in Southeast Asia who are latching on to the same idea.

Golfers will soon be able to tee off in Cambodia and finish their round in Vietnam following the start of construction on a cross-border resort this month that is believed to be first of its kind in Asia.

The US$100-million project will feature nine holes on either side of the Vietnam-Cambodia border, as well as a five-star hotel, business centre and a cultural village.

It is also located near the main border crossing between the two countries, which has seen an increase in traffic as tourist numbers swell.

“Many tourists are now travelling between Vietnam and Cambodia and they only stop to eat lunch before continuing their trip,” the governor of Cambodia’s Svay Rieng province, Cheang Am, told AFP.

“But when we have such a resort they might stay for awhile – when they come to play here, of course they’ll spend money.”

It’s a thought Dr Khin Shwe could well relate to as he eyes a surge in golf-tourism that although in full swing elsewhere is yet to tee off here.