Hanoi American International Hospital idle 17 years

January 20, 2015 | 11:10

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17 years after its investment certificate was issued, Hanoi American International Hospital project is still a desolate construction area in Hanoi’s Cau Giay district.

Hanoi American International Hospital project

Overlooking from the other side of the Nghia Do Park, Hanoi American International Hospital project, which is invested in by US-based Keystone Global Group, looks furbished with its front covered by glass windows. However, its backyard is still a construction area with dunes of sand and rock as well as rusting construction equipment.

The about 3,000-square-metre area is now a nutritious land for wild grass to grow. The storage area also seems to have been untouched for a long time.

A guard of a nearby coffee shop told VIR that, within two months, when he started guarding cars parked in front of the hospital, he has not seen anyone working on the project.

As for a middle-aged gardener inside the hospital’s area, there are only three people working here with a monthly wage of VND3 million ($140) each. “We have asked for a raise many times but they rejected. They said that we can quit if we don’t find the pay satisfying,” he told VIR.

The gardener added that the investor has already spent over VND1 trillion ($47 million) on the project and is now selling it. He also said that there was a foreign company offering to buy the project for VND800 billion ($37.5 million) but the investor denied. “I think this project will continue being idle until it is sold,” he believed.

VIR contacted Keystone via mobile number and email available on www.hospitaldirectoryasia.com, but there was no reply.

Keystone’s head office is at 20 Doc Ngu street, Hanoi. Through observation, the house is still lighted and there are people coming in and out. However, Huong, the owner of the house, which has land area of 80 metres square, told VIR through mobile phone that it is now open for lease with the price of VND15-25 million ($700-1170) per floor per month.

Hanoi American International Hospital, with the registered investment capital at $50 million, was the second healthcare foreign invested hospital in Hanoi, following the French Hospital of Hanoi. Being licensed in 1997, the hospital was planned to have 300 international quality beds and a modern helicopter landing pad.

Due to slow land clearance, the project started its construction in 2006 and finished its raw building in 2011, since when the project has been left desolate.

In 2011, Hanoi American International Hospital said on its website that the hospital would officially open in November that year and boasted that it would welcome the US President Barack Obama on the opening day.

Nobody knows whether the project is going to be continued.

Foreign hospital plan prospects weaken

The plans to open Hanoi’s second foreign-backed hospital after a 15-year delay are dimming as the investor reports being mired in a dispute with an equipment supplier.