Top executives of the project owner said at a ceremony to receive the investment certificate at the Reunification Palace in HCMC yesterday that the huge project would be kick-started in early 2009 to create the most modern university township in the country.

As covered on the Daily on last Friday's issue, the project to build the Vietnam International University Township (VTUT) is to create an integrated township under four main themes of work, knowledge, lifestyle and leisure, creating attractive living and working spaces in an international and vibrant setting.

The township covering 925 hectares is located in Tan Thoi Nhi Commune in the city' s outlying district of Hoc Mon District, about nearly 20 kilometers from the city center and forms part of the North-West Metropolitan Authority Area of HCMC.

Development components will include international universities and colleges and schools on 110 hectares. It also will include commercial, civic, cultural, and residential developments, as well as medical centers, gardens and parks, and sports and recreation facilities.

Tan Sri Dato' Seri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun, chairman of Berjaya Land Berhad, said the new university town center is planned on a central radial layout as the nucleus of the overall development, comprising water features with open civic parks and landmark towers, he said.

He added that to capitalize on the waterfront attributes of the site, various water front housing similar to the canal planning in Dublin, London and Hamburg are provided in this master plan.

The project is scheduled for completion in stages from the year 2011 to2021. Apart from an estimated population of some 76,000 residents, the town will also accommodate 12,000 students when in full reach. At the ceremony, Francis Ng Sooi Lin, chief executive officer of Berjaya Land Berhad, said the township will US$3.5 billion, said chairman Tan Chee Yioun.

At the ceremony, vice chairman of HCMC Nguyen Huu Tin said that this new project would send FDI approvals in the city in the first six months of the year to around US$7.1 billion, much higher than the same period of last year.

Tin expected the project to contribute to high-level human resource development currently in dire need in the city. So, Tin pledged to create favorable conditions for Berjaya in realizing the project.

Berjaya Corporation is a major Malaysian conglomerate listed on the main board of Bursa.

The North-West Metropolitan Authority Area is also home to a large-scale project by South Korea's GS Engineering & Construction Corporation, which has received an investment certificate to develop a US$42.6 million 36-hole golf course on 200 hectares there.

Source: Saigon Times