Ho Chi Minh City Mayor Le Hoang Quan on Saturday handed over the keys for new houses to 512 households in District 2 who have had to resettle to make way for the development of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, designed to house Vietnam’s first financial center.
A handover ceremony was organized at the resettlement quarter in the district’s An Phu-Binh Khanh Ward. Representatives of city departments interested, the district and the project developer, South Rach Chiec LLC, attended the event.
The 17.3-hectare resettlement quarter comprises a total of 1,844 apartments, including the 512 finished ones. The completed flats are sited in two apartment buildings, 28 levels each, that the developer started construction late 2008.
Mr. Quan, the City People’s Committee chairman, vice chairman Nguyen Thanh Tai, and representatives of District 2 and the developer cut the red ribbon to launch the new apartments. The City Mayor also presented electric fans as gifts to the new residents.
He told the new residents that Thu Thiem, where they are living, would become a financial and trading center of the country by 2020.
Vo Thi Dung, 60, one of the residents receiving the house keys this time, told Sai Gon Giai Phong, “I’m very happy to see such a new house.” In her hands were a token key and an electric fan she just received from the City Mayor.
South Rach Chiec LLC chairman Nguyen Thanh Lap said, “We’ve developed the project under a public-private initiative with the City People’s Committee. We’ve successfully completed 512 resettlement apartments and will continue to build the rest among the 1,844 in the project.”
The completed flats are of two sizes – 47 square meters with one bedroom and 61 square meters with two bedrooms.
This resettlement project area will also include a new kindergarten, primary school and market.
The project developer, South Rach Chiec LLC, is a partnership between Singapore property developer Keppel Land and two Vietnamese property developers namely Tien Phuoc Co. and Tran Thai Co.
This project is one of the city’s three resettlement projects that will build 12,500 apartments in all for dwellers who have to relocate because of the development of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in District 2.
