Berjaya forced to sit on its hands

The project will grace the southern hub’s rapidly changing skyline

However, a primary school located inside the project’s site had not moved out, said Phat.
“The school’s area occupies land in our project site and we cannot execute the whole project’s underground and foundations,” said Phat. The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee said the new primary school would replace the existing school inside the project and be completed next May.
 
Located on 8.1 hectares and bounded by Cao Thang, February 3  and Le Hong Phong streets in the city’s District 10, VFC was licenced in February 2008 and is expected to become a city landmark. However, delays were caused by 14 changes to the project’s master plan, slow administrative procedures and land clearance woes.

“If the project can be kicked-off in May and completed by 2017 as per our new schedule, VFC will face fierce competition in the office leasing market,” said Phat.  The VFC will comprise 66,388 square metres for a financial centre area, 9,260sqm for hotels and 5,540sqm for pathways and green area inside the project. The financial centre will comprise five blocks ranging from 44 to 48 levels, parks and lakes. The high-rise buildings will be linked together by a six-storey podium for retail space, with the remaining floors in be used for office for lease and hotel rooms.

After completion, the VFC will provide 598 luxury hotel rooms, 79,180sqm for retail space and 98,797sqm for parking of 3,021 cars and 1,126 motorbikes. The company did not reveal the space used for office for lease at the time. Some 9,260sqm next to the financial centre area will be the new 30-storey Ky Hoa hotel.

Berjaya Vietnam is also the developer of a series of large-scale real estate projects across the nation, including the $500 million Hanoi Garden City in Hanoi’s Long Bien district, a $3.5 billion international university township in Ho Chi Minh City and a $2 billion residential area in Dong Nai province.

With the current gloomy picture covering the nation’s property market, Hanoi Garden City project’s sale rates were slow, while the $2 billion residential area in Nhon Trach district, Dong Nai province also faced difficulties in finding customers as Nhon Trach district’s infrastructure was poor.