Friday, November 30, 2007

Keppel Land To Build 140 Viet Waterfront Villas

Source : The Business Times, November 29, 2007

KEPPEL Land will build 140 waterfront villa homes in Ho Chi Minh City, its eighth residential development in Vietnam this year.

In a statement yesterday, Keppel Land said that it had formed a joint venture, through wholly owned subsidiary VN Investment Pte Ltd, with Vietnamese property developer Hung Phu Real Estate Investment Corporation (Hung Phu), to develop a 9.7-hectare site into waterfront landed housing in District 9 of Ho Chi Minh City.

The total investment capital for the project is estimated at US$55.2 million. Upon receiving the investment certificate and obtaining the relevant government approvals, VN Investment will take up a 60 per cent stake in the joint venture company and Hung Phu, the remainder.

Citing reports by The World Bank Group, Keppel Land highlighted that the rate of urbanisation in Vietnam is projected to reach 40 per cent by 2020, up from 23.5 per cent in 2000. This translates into more than 31 million people of the country's population living in urban areas, compared with 19 million in 2000.

Said Keppel Land director of regional investments Ang Wee Gee: 'There is growing demand for luxury homes in Vietnam. We will continue to capitalise on Vietnam's rising property market with premier developments in prime locations.

'Villa developments, in particular, are limited in Ho Chi Minh City, and demand for villas is expected to be very strong.'

The villa homes are expected to be launched in early 2009 and will be targeted at wealthy locals, expatriate communities and overseas Vietnamese (Viet Kieus).

This latest development follows two recently formed joint ventures to develop luxury villas and condominiums, also in Ho Chi Minh City's District 9.

To date, Keppel Land has an existing pipeline of more than 25,000 homes in Vietnam.

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