Ciputra expands business to Vietnam

JAKARTA (JP): Property baron Ciputra is expanding his business into Vietnam and Myanmar after having successfully operated in Singapore for 20 years.

Earlier this week he said affiliated companies were building a US$5 million five-star hotel in Hanoi and a $2 billion satellite town near the city.

"The Vietnamese government is happy with our work and currently offering me another project, a fantasy land," Ciputra said after the first ASEAN business summit.

He said he was studying the offer which included land to develop and tax breaks from the Vietnamese government.

Ciputra also has plans to build three-star and four-star hotels in other Vietnamese cities.

All of his hotels in Vietnam will be managed by the Ciputra hotel management chain.

"For me, Vietnam is a good place to invest; maybe it is also true for other Indonesian businesspeople," Ciputra said.

Ciputra is also eying Myanmar as a property investment spot.

He said the Myanmar government had asked him to develop a tourist resort there.

Through the Metropolitan Group, Ciputra has been investing heavily in several hotels and luxury condominiums in Singapore since late 1970s.

His total investment in Singapore is worth US$350 million. He plans to keep investing $50 million a year there.

"So far I have just kept silent over my overseas investments because investing abroad is considered to be advocating capital flights and thus not nationalistic. Such belief, however, has changed," Ciputra said.

He said investing abroad should strengthen his business because relying on the domestic property market was not healthy for a big company and the domestic market was not so promising. (rid)