Thursday, January 3, 2008

BT: Ho Chi Minh City frets over property investment

Business Times - 03 Jan 2008

Ho Chi Minh City frets over property investment

(HO CHI MINH CITY) Around 85 per cent of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ho Chi Minh City last year has flowed into the property sector, worrying experts and authorities, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported yesterday.

HCM City had attracted US$2.5 billion in the first 11 months, the highest in the country along with Hanoi and Dong Nai province, Thai Van Re, head of the city's Department of Planning and Investment, said. Over US$2.1 billion had been invested in real estate, mainly apartment and office blocks, he added.

Do Thi Loan, general secretary of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said her association had been contacted by many companies from the US, Australia, Canada, Italy, Singapore, China and Japan about investing in the city's property market as well as elsewhere in Vietnam. They said other Asian markets were nearly saturated while Vietnam was in the first stage of urbanisation, she said.

But the deputy head of the Economics Institute, Nguyen Thieng Duc, warned that haphazard construction would affect the city's visual appeal and environment. He added the administration should improve infrastructure to prevent traffic jams and floods, and make it appealing for foreigners to invest in other sectors\. \-- Bernama

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