CEO Group in hot water

CEO Group's Seven Star building takes up a valuable land plot at D27 in Cau Giay district. Photo: baotainguyenmoitruong.vn

Along with giant real estate groups like BIM Group, Bitexco, Gelemexico, and Khang Dien JSC, CEO Group will be inspected by MoC in 2018. The inspection will target the group’s main source of revenue, Sonasea Villas & Resorts in Phu Quoc Island, according to dantri.com.vn.

CEO Group’s revenue mainly comes from projects in Phu Quoc, such as Sonasea and Novotel Phu Quoc. According to the group’s financial report in 2016, projects in Phu Quoc contributed 60 per cent of the group’s revenue.

In contrast, perhaps due to putting too much focus on Sonasea and other projects in Phu Quoc, CEO Group has forgotten its two long-delayed projects in Hanoi, the Seven Star high-end trading and services building and CEO Me Linh City, which was licensed in February 2008.

According to CEO Group’s plans, the $88.1-million Seven Star building located in the golden land D27 in Cau Giay district would have been constructed in December 2010 and completed in 2013’s fourth quarter. However, to date, the project is still in a standstill, taking up valuable space. Essentially, the Seven Star building has been not mentioned in the group's plans since 2013.

Furthermore, CEO Group’s CEO Me Linh City on February 29, 2008 (six months before Me Linh was merged into Hanoi) received its construction permit from the Vinh Phuc People’s Committee. However, since then, the project has not been developed.

To resolve long-delayed projects in Hanoi, in early 2018 Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung directed authorities in local districts to look into resolving projects that have been delayed by more than three years, possibly meaning CEO Group's two mentioned projects may be included in the list.

Accordingly, Chung requested local authorities to check, adjust or cancel these projects, then report to the Hanoi People’s Committee for solutions.