VietNamNet Bridge – Being in a middle-income country like Vietnam, investors should practice prudence when it comes to developing megaprojects. Business is business. Romance has no place in the profit-seeking business world. Sustainable profitability is indeed the yardstick to appraise a project that requires a hefty amount of cash.

Illustrative image -- File photo

Against all odds, the state-owned Vietnam Television (VTV) station has shown its resolve to carry out a big-ticket project to build what would become the world’s tallest television tower in Hanoi City, even though the question about how to make money out of it remains to be answered.

The ultimate goal of the project is to create something iconic and symbolic to impress international visitors and pass on a towering architectural work to the next generations. The public is wondering whether it is a must-build skyscraper or just a thing to keep up with the Joneses.

The project made headlines last month when VTV clinched a deal with State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) and BRG Group Joint Stock Company to translate the megaproject into reality although the Government approved a VTV proposal to construct the 636-meter-tall TV tower last year.

VTV boasts this mega-structure would be something the next generations would be proud of and would serve as a driving force for economic growth in Hanoi and the country as a whole.

Tran Binh Minh, VTV general director, is quoted by the local news site Vietnamnet as claiming that the tower, which would cover 14 hectares in the middle of the Tay Ho Tay new urban area, would become an architectural landmark for the next generations.

Nguyen Thanh Luong, vice general director of VTV and head of the board in charge of preparing the TV tower project, says in Tuoi Tre newspaper that once built, the world’s tallest TV tower and the area around it will become a “locomotive” of economic development in the capital city and Vietnam.

This is because the tower would become a must-visit destination for tourists and thus contribute to economic development. It will also play a role in receiving and transmitting TV signals, and security and defense, according to VTV.

Nonetheless, since the signing of the project took place more than three weeks ago, the public has expressed concern that Vietnam remains poor but wants to have a TV tower even taller than the Skytree of Japan, the world’s third biggest economy. But Luong of VTV has knocked back such a comparison.

“I think we should look at the project with a positive attitude. Late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet agreed on the idea of building a TV tower in 1995, but it did not materialize due to a lack of funding at the time,” he reasons.

While socio-economic uncertainties are still out there, VTV should think of ways to help the nascent television industry move forward, instead of developing a luxurious symbol.

A reader in a letter to Tuoi Tre says that Vietnam has just become a lower-middle-income economy but the national broadcaster is planning to build what can be seen as the “Tower of Babel”.

Japan and China built their tallest skyscrapers only when they became world powers. Meanwhile, Vietnam is dreaming of having the world’s highest TV tower shortly after it got out of the World Bank’s group of poorest countries. Vietnam achieved GDP per capita of a mere US$2,000 last year.

The Tuoi Tre reader, indentified as Phuong Nguyen, estimates the cost of the planned tower at around US$1 billion. The Skytree cost US$820 million.

Moreover, it is a waste of money to build such a tall TV tower since digital TV will supersede analogue TV in the next couple of years as envisioned in the nation’s TV industry development plan. This is evident in the increasing prevalence of cable and satellite TV services in major cities and provinces.

Many high-rise buildings in Vietnam are still struggling to increase their low occupancy. Is a new man-made wonder really needed while Vietnam is endowed with many wonders of nature like Halong Bay, Phong Nha caves and Dong Van rock plateau, which are not yet fully tapped?

Tran Dang Tuan, former vice general director of VTV and chairman of the Vietnam Digital Communication Association, says the project should not be treated as a top priority in the current circumstances.

“In my opinion, the project should go ahead only when it is proven to bring huge profit because such a TV tower is way too expensive,” Tuan says.

VTV and its partners should make public what the project could bring, including tourism appeal, revenue, and contributions to economic growth and urban development.

If profit to be earned outside the television industry is not justified, the “Tower of Babel” project should be suspended before it is too late to undo it, Tuan says.

SGT