HK firm postpones property project

HK firm postpones property project

HANOI (DPA): A one billion dollar foreign real estate development investment approved by Vietnamese authorities at the very end of last year has now been indefinitely postponed, according to an official report yesterday.

Hong Kong's City Horse Trading ltd. company has apparently asked for the indefinite suspension because of difficulties raising capital for the US$997 million An Phu residential project, according to their local partners.

The development in the Thu Duc district of southern Ho Chi Minh City was the largest foreign investment project approved last year for the former Saigon, The Vietnam News reported Monday.

The Ho Chi Minh City Urban Development and Service Company, the local partner, also complained that City Horse Trading firm had asked for several major changes to the license.

The An Phu project was approved Dec. 30, along with a US$1.1 billion mixed development project for Hanoi, put forward by the Ciputra Group of Indonesia.

The last-minute approvals were widely seen as a transparent attempt by Vietnamese officials to boost the year-end foreign investment figures which had slumped over the previous few years as foreign investors grew disillusioned with the slow pace of real reforms.

After the two last-minute approvals officials could claim 1996 has seen an increase of more than 18 percent over 1995 rather than an obvious decline.

This year foreign investment approvals are running at roughly 50 per cent less than the rate Vietnam claimed for last year as investors continue to register dissatisfaction with the business environment.