Curtain lifted on Hanoi finance centre plan

A Hanoi official said that the conference would be the first preparatory step for the establishment of the centre so that its operation could become a reality by the end of the decade. It will also be in time to receive the anticipated wave of foreign financial institutions following Vietnam’s opening of the market under its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments.
The centre will be built within the 207ha West West Lake urban area development and will occupy 25ha at the heart of the South Korean-owned project.
“We have to take steps right now in order that the centre will be synchronised with the entire urban area,” Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment director Trieu Dinh Phuc told Vietnam Investment Review last week.
The Hanoi Financial and Banking Centre (Hanoi FBC) will call for investors, both domestic and overseas, to build modern banking and finance facilities on the site, which boasts sound infrastructure, delivered by the South Korean investor to the municipal government in exchange for a green-light on the mega property project.
Estimated to cost between $300m and $500m depending on the size of the facilities, the Hanoi FBC is expected to be on par with many other capital city-based financial centres in the world.
“Hanoi does not have a modern banking and finance centre like other capital cities in the world,” Phuc said.
Experienced property development consultants, financial and banking organisations, fund managers and government officials will be invited to give advice on the shaping of the centre, which remains a very new concept to the local authorities.
Phuc said this showed a new approach by the local government in calling for investors who would be given more freedom to customise a project idea according to their needs rather than having to accept an option already fixed by local authorities.
“Investors will propose their options and Hanoi authorities will select the best ones. There will be separate components of the centre,” Phuc said, adding that appropriate incentives would be introduced to encourage investors. The central government has stipulated that relevant ministries and agencies will have to assist the municipal government in devising encouraging policies to turn the capital city into a financial centre of the northern region and the country as well.
The city itself is also in a desperate need for investment capital to cater for the fast growth, projected to be 11-12 per cent annually over the next five years. Phuc said a modern financial and banking centre will help Hanoi realise a 17-20 per cent investment capital growth rate every year to serve economic expansion.
Hanoi FBC will also help the city realise its strategy to shift towards high quality services development.





No. 771/July 24-30, 2006