Da Nang already has a nightlife. It has the Dragon Bridge fire show, An Thuong's bars and the riverfront crowds. What it doesn't have yet is a plan. This week, the outlines of one started to show, and the best detail is something the city decided not to build.

An Thuong: no fancy stage, more places to sit

On October 6, People's Committee Vice Chairman Tran Nam Hung inspected phase 2 of the An Thuong tourism-quarter upgrade in Ngu Hanh Son ward and sent the plan back for rework, VietNamNet reported. Phase 2 is budgeted at about 104 billion dong. One item, a water-music stage at roughly 40 billion dong, drew his skepticism and is no longer a priority.

Instead, the My An Cultural and Sports Center, with its pool, gym, yoga space, football pitch and three-story building, is to be reused rather than demolished, and opened up as a community space for residents and visitors, designed for use around the clock, rain or shine. The city will also look for a site for a public car park combined with a park. An Thuong is short on green space, parking and public space.

Hung's instruction was to build "a new product that truly serves the people" (translated from Vietnamese). The revised design is due in November, and phase 2 is meant to finish by the end of 2027.

Hai Chau: same rooms, longer hours

In Hai Chau ward, which collected more than 1,005 billion dong in budget revenue by the first week of October against a 795-billion target, chairman Nguyen Van Duy told Thanh Nien the ward wants businesses to use their premises into the evening. Some central areas could be oriented toward nighttime activity, managed with technology. His example of a new product was coffee drinks made with crystallized Nam O fish sauce or Tra My cinnamon. No streets or zones were named.

The bigger play

At the city level, Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Anh Thi called the night-time economy a "new growth driver," Bao Da Nang reported. The city has supported, in principle, further study of a seaside tourism and entertainment complex proposed by FTZ Kita Trung Nam Co., Ltd. The Department of Finance must report to the People's Committee before October 20. Dai Doan Ket reported that Thi chaired the meeting on October 8. It calls the project "Ocean Heart," part of a concept the investor labels "Ocean Seven – Danang": five zones, seven "waves" of cultural storytelling, and a recurring music, light, water and drone show called "Seven Waves Awaken" (translated from Vietnamese). The Department of Finance leads the review, and the city's land-fund center is to check the site question. No location, size or price has been disclosed.

The city's stated priorities include distinctive night experiences, balancing economics with cultural preservation, the environment, public security and community interests, and putting cultural identity at the center.

What to watch

Shelving a 40-billion-dong water stage in favor of a gym-and-pool community space residents can actually use is the right instinct. The test is whether that instinct survives the October 20 report on a private seaside complex, and for any seaside project, public access to the beach is the question that matters most. Ask where it is and who gets in.

Sources

This story was compiled by the Da Nang Voice news desk from the published sources listed above. Facts, figures and quotes are attributed to those sources; Da Nang Voice did not conduct interviews for it unless the text says so. Corrections are dated and noted at the top of the story. Read our corrections policy. Spotted an error? Tell us.