The Hanoi People’s Committee has sent a document to the Ministry of Construction and relevant ministries asking for evaluation of a smart town project having an investment of over US$4 billion.

Dan Tri newspaper reported that the government of Hanoi City has received a proposal to implement the smart town project from a Vietnamese-Japanese consortium, which consists of four Vietnamese enterprises and Sumitomo Corporation of Japan.

The project would cover 271.8 hectares in the outlying district of Dong Anh as part of the detailed zoning plan along Nhat Tan-Noi Bai road approved in Decision 6630/QD-UBND dated December 2, 2015.

Of registered capital of some VND94.3 trillion (or nearly US$4.2 billion), the paid-in capital accounts for VND14.26 trillion, with Sumitomo making up 50% and the Vietnamese investors the remainder.

According to the Hanoi City government in the document, the consortium has proposed establishing five companies to execute five component projects, which are scheduled to be kicked off this year and be completed in 2030.

As shown in the document, the project has an investment of nearly US$4.2 billion and covers 271.82 hectares.

However, according to a report on the business paper Nikkei in February, the smart town project in Hanoi is valued at up to US$37.3 billion and will span some 310 hectares.

Dan Tri quoted some experts as saying that different figures may result from the combination of construction costs calculated by many businesses. The differences are still big though.

Related parties have yet to explain such differences.

SGT