Kinh Bac still stuck with moribund projects

December 18, 2012 | 16:36

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One project was envisioned to cost $1 billion and soar 100 stories above the streets of Hanoi.

Another was to cost $300 million and include a five-star hotel and upscale serviced apartments.

Today, however, the Diamond Rice Flower complex and Hanoi Diplomatic Residences project are symbols of Vietnam’s paralyzed property market—projects that are bleeding dollars from owner Kinh Bac City Development Corporation.

According to Kinh Bac’s third quarter report, revenue after tax was reported at a loss of more than VND132 billion ($6.3 million) in the first nine months of 2012.

On the company’s list of on-going projects, Kinh Bac reported that up to the third quarter of 2012, more than VND119 billion ($5.6 million) was disbursed to the Diamond Rice Flower hotel complex, an increase of VND2 billion ($95,000) compared to the amount at December 2011.

The other project, Hanoi Diplomatic Residences, has similarly been paralyzed for more than past two years.

The Diamond Rice Flower project is located on more than 4 hectares next to the National Convention Centre in Pham Hung road in Hanoi’s Tu Liem district. In 2010, control of the project was transferred from the Japanese Riviera to Kinh Bac by the Hanoi People’s Committee. Kinh Bac hired the famous London-based international architectural firm Foster and Partners for a landmark design with three buildings of 100 stories, 80 stories and 15 stories.

Work on the complex was planned to start at the end of 2011 however up to now the site was still a ground of grass without any movements.