VietNamNet Bridge – The US$930-million Berjaya Vietnam Financial Center (BVFC) project will get off ground in HCMC in mid-2011, as pre-construction preparations have been well underway, said Malaysia's Berjaya Land Berhad as the investor.

The complex will have skyscrapers over a vast area of 6.8 hectares at the junction of Le Hong Phong-Ba Thang Hai streets, and the design of the 1/500 scale will likely be approved next month, said Nguyen Hoai Nam, chairman of Berjaya in Vietnam. Berjaya Land Berhad is a subsidiary of Berjaya Corporation.

It will have five blocks from 39 to 48 stories each, comprised of three office buildings, one five-star hotel and one service apartment building and shopping mall.

The project will also include underground facilities for communication among the buildings, a shopping center and a parking lot for 3,000 cars, Nam told the Daily after his company donated US$3 million for building Mang Non School and Children's Cultural House of District JO, where the complex is being developed.

The HCMC government in February 2008 issued an investment certificate to the company to build the project at the busiest quarter in District 10.

Berjaya Corporation hoped that the BVFC project would bring a new urban landscape to the district with luxury facilities for a new lifestyle and living demands of the local residents.

According to the plan, construction on the center will be completed in 2016, or some three years later than the company's initial plan when it obtained the license.

Dato' Francis Ng Sooi Lin, chief executive officer of Berjaya Land Berhad, said that by developing Berjaya Vietnam Financial Center, Berjaya would be making strong economic contributions to HCMC. Once completed, he said, the complex will become a prestigious landmark in the city.

Since 2006, the company has been developing many big projects in Vietnam.

Aside from this BVFC project, Berjaya Land Berhad is also investing in the US$3.5-billion international university township project in Hoc Mon District, which forms part of the North-West Metropolitan Area of HCMC. Some 300 hectares of land out of the total 500 hectares of the project has been cleared.

It is also investing in projects like Hanoi Garden City, Bien Hoa City Square, Berjaya Nhon Trach New City Center in Dong Nai and Long Beach Resorts in Phu Quoc Island.

Hanoi Garden City and Bien Hoa City Square are under construction now, and properties in these two projects have been launched for sales, Nam said.

Berjaya Land Berhad is also the owner of the Intercontinental Hotel Hanoi Westlake and the Sheraton Hotel Hanoi.

Up to now, total registered investment capital of the corporation's projects in Vietnam has amounted to some US$7.1 billion.

VietNamNet/SGT