VietNamNet Bridge - The movement to build cemetery parks in Vietnam has been flourishing in recent years, with projects worth dozens or hundreds of million of US dollars. Below are the most typical projects.

Lac Hong Vien Cemetery

This is the largest cemetery in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. The cemetery is very near Highway 6, about 50 km from the center of Hanoi and 20km from Hoa Binh City. The cemetery covers nine hills of nearly 100 hectares in Ky Son district in Hoa Binh province.

The cemetery was built on a site that was carefully selected by Vietnamese and Chinese scientists, geographers and feng shui experts. The nine hills form a shape of a giant swimming turtle with nine natural springs symbolizing a person's life when they return to the other world. The graves are also arranged based on feng shui.

Each grave sells for VND15 million ($750). Or customers can buy one meter of land for VND8-9 million ($400-450). There are single graves or family graves, arranged on the six hills called Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth and Buddha Statue. A family grave is priced at hundreds of thousands of USD.

Lac Hong Vien offers all services that other cemeteries have, such as cleaning tombs, taking care of ornamental trees, burning incense on the full moon day and the first day of every lunar month and a unique service, online worship. The cemetery also provides a water-burying service, which uses water to accelerate the decomposition process.

Thien Duc Vinh Hang Cemetery

This cemetery was built in Phu Tho province, on 90 hectares, surrounded by nine hills, at a total cost of VND700 billion (around $35 million). It was put into operation in 2013.

This is also a park cemetery. The price for a single grave is from VND4.5 to VND8 million ($220-$400) per square meter. The price may be over $1,000/sq.m for nice plots of land.

An Vien Vinh Hang Cemetery

The project is located in Dong Nai province, with an area of 116 ha and a total investment of over VND500 billion ($25 million). The cemetery is divided into nine functional areas, designed specifically for different subjects. The cemetery provides about 60,000 burial places and space for more than 300,000 boxes of ashes. It opened in 2012.

The price for a plot of land of 1.4m x 2.8m is VND50 million ($2,500) and up to VND350 million ($17,000) for a plot of 2m x 5m that faces a Buddhist temple.

Son Trang Tien Canh Cemetery

Built in 2011 in Tay Ninh Province, this is the first foreign-invested cemetery in Vietnam, with a licence for 50 years.

The project investor was the Fairy Park Group from Malaysia, with an investment of $20 million, on an area of about 75 hectares.

The cemetery is built based on the model of the Fairy Park in Malaysia. The price for a VIP grave with an area of 15m x 20m is nearly VND2 billion ($100,000). The cheapest price is VND169.5 million ($8,000) for an area of 5m x 4.8m.

In 2013, the Malaysian investor put into operation a similar cemetery named Son Trang Tien Canh 2 in Hau Giang province with a total investment of $20 million, on an area of 24 ha.

Hoa Vien Cemetery

This cemetery park was built in Binh Duong province in 2006 on 190.2 hectares with an investment of over VND300 billion. The price for a family graves can go up to VND600 million ($30,000)..

Phuc Lac Vien Incarnation

This project was launched in March 2014 on an area of over 3.2 hectares at a cost of VND136 billion ($7 million) in Thanh Hoa province. It is expected that the work will be inaugurated later this year.

Zing/VNN