Singapore: More than most, Martin Moore can talk with authority about the challenges and complications of managing golf course construction during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking in the latest Asian Golf Industry Federation webinar that focuses on Vietnam’s Nara Binh Tien Golf and Beach Resort, Moore reveals some of the hardships he has endured in these unprecedented times.
Moore, President at Flagstick GCCM, said: “I’ve been in Vietnam nine months and I’ve been in at least six or seven lockdowns. The other day I was trying to count, I think I’ve had 16 or 17 Covid tests in that time.
“I used to drive from Binh Tien to my project in Phan Tiet and sometimes I would go through two road blocks there. You’d have to do a rapid Covid test just driving 3½ hours, from one place to the other.
“It’s nine months now and I’m still here! I haven’t had a chance to leave. But it’s been extremely busy finishing up the projects that I’ve had going … and still a couple are going.
“I was fortunate enough to have a big team here already. That’s been the key to let me keep going because of the travel restrictions.”
With a ban on domestic as well as international flights, moving around the country has proved problematic.
Moore said: “A good friend of mine just finished one job (in the south) and had work in the north. He rented a van and drove 48 hours from the southern part of Vietnam to Hanoi.”
Moore said he’s encouraged by talk that the country will begin opening up for vaccinated people in December – easing or eliminating quarantine rules, depending on where one’s coming from.
“If it’s a super hot country they might have restrictions, but if you’re fully vaccinated they’re talking about waving the quarantine in December. In the nine months I’ve been here it’s hit through a couple of different waves. Sometimes the laws changed every day.
“It’s tough. We’ve been talking about it for the last year-and-a-half. I’m hoping that there’s light at the end of the tunnel and everything gets going.”
*To view the full webinar, please click here.