The construction of a Ho Chi Minh City-based hi-tech complex Saigon Silicon City Centre, modelled after Silicon Valley in the US, has only been kicked off but already sees numerous foreign investors having plans to invest once it comes into operation.

On August 30, Saigon Silicon City JSC started construction of a research and development (R&D) centre located in Saigon Hi-Tech Park in District 9.

The 11,368-square metre R&D centre with a total investment capital of $21.43 million  will house technological research and development components, while connecting overseas Vietnamese hi-tech communities with international corporations to facilitate co-operation, research, innovation, and technology transfer.

R&D is one of the four stages of Saigon Silicon City. The ground-breaking ceremony for the project was held last November. The research centre will be rolled out in two phases and is expected to near completion in 2020.

Chairman of Saigon Silicon City JSC, Nguyen Minh Hieu, told Saigontimes that Saigon Silicon City spans 52 hectares, 50 per cent of which is used to construct infrastructure for manufacturing activities, while the remainder is set aside to develop a park and traffic infrastructure. Thus, the main space of the complex has a capacity of 24 enterprises. However, numerous foreign hi-tech investors expressed their interest in investing and, as of now, the project has chosen 17 potential enterprises, almost all of which are also operating in Silicon Valley in the US.

Along with Saigon Silicon City, Danang IT Park, another silicon valley, is being recently implemented.

The project was taken over by Trung Nam Land JSC (Trung Nam) and its partner Trung Nam Construction & Engineering Corporation (Trung Nam E&C) after the withdrawal of the initial investors, namely Rocky Lai & Associates from the US and KDDI from Japan.

According to the initial plans, the construction was divided into two phases. The first phase was kicked off in April 2013 and is expected to be completed in 2017. The second phase would take from 2017 to 2023.

IT park was designed with six functional areas: a production area, an area for research and development and training-consulting, an office area, an area for technical infrastructure, an area for product exhibition, and one for healthcare services, supermarkets, and a school.

The project would have followed the model of the US Silicon Valley and Hshinchu Science Park in Taiwan. It expected to lure foreign scientists, engineers, as well as IT and hi-tech specialists to Danang, and encourage hi-tech training at universities. In addition, the investors hoped the IT park would draw the attention of the global business community, including the US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and India.

However, three years after the ground-breaking, the project remains immobile. The Danang People’s Committee warned that if investors failed on the advance payment to the city funds due June 30, 2015, the authorities would be forced to revoke the IT park’s investment certificate and issue a fine of VND10 billion ($448.194) for the delay.

In March 2015, investors announced to withdraw from the project due to lack of finances.

In July 2015, when the city decided to revoke the investment certificate, Trung Nam, in partnership with Trung Nam E&C, expressed interest in paying investors’ debts to the city to salvage the project.

VIR