Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, Le Hoang Quan, Saturday granted a 50-year license for a Malaysian company to build a US$930-million office, hotel and apartment complex in District 10.

Under the license, Jerjaya Leisure (Cayman) Limited, a subsidiary of Berjaya Land Bhd of Malaysia, will develop the area at the junction of Ba Thang Hai and Le Hong Phong streets into a world class financial center.

The Vietnam Financial Centre will comprise three 48-story grade A office towers, one 48-story five-star hotel with ballroom and convention facilities, one 48-story luxury services tower and a multi-story high-end shopping mall.

Construction will begin this year and is scheduled for completion in phases from 2010 to 2013.

Jerjaya Leisure’s project raised the total foreign direct investment capital in HCMC so far this year to $1.6 billion.

Malaysian companies have invested $1.09 billion in HCMC alone, becoming the fifth largest foreign investor in the southern metro, and $2.8 billion in Vietnam, ranking seventh amongst foreign investors in the country.

Berjaya also signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of HCMC’s neighboring province of Dong Nai to undertake a feasibility study for a $2.6-billion, 600-hectare new urban area in the southern province’s Nhon Trach Town.

Vietnam’s Tin Nghia Co. cooperated with Berjaya to build a 17-kilometer highway and bridge across the Dong Nai River to link the city and Nhon Trach.

The Malaysian group also entered a joint venture with Hanoi Electronic Corporation to develop a 405-hectare commercial, industrial and residential area in Hanoi’s Long Bien District with total investment capital of $2.5 billion.

The group has invested in the leisure industry by buying two five-star hotels in Hanoi – Sheraton Hanoi Hotel and Towers and Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake Hotel – and wants to expand their Vietnam operations into distribution, insurance and stockbroking.
(Source: ThannienNews.com)