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.