No Va Land Investment Group Corp., one of Vietnam’s biggest property developers, said it’s returning engineers to the Grand Manhattan, a 39-story marquee development in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City where work was halted five months ago when it ran out of funds after pouring concrete at floor 28.
(Bloomberg) — No Va Land Investment Group Corp., one of Vietnam’s biggest property developers, said it’s returning engineers to the Grand Manhattan, a 39-story marquee development in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City where work was halted five months ago when it ran out of funds after pouring concrete at floor 28.
The resumption follows renewal of a loan from Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank — that came after repeated interventions from Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to get Vietnam’s troubled real estate sector back on track. It will be watched with interest as a harbinger of project restarts this year following a difficult 2022.
The Grand Manhattan would be Novaland’s first project to restart after several were suspended late last year due to economic headwinds and legal obstacles, the company said in response to Bloomberg questions. It was one of seven projects that received priority legal clearance from Ho Chi Minh City authorities.
Vietnam’s government has pushed to dismantle legal and regulatory hurdles, as well as make it easier for struggling businesses to access funds to overcome challenges brought on, first by the Covid pandemic, and then by a slowing economy. The crisis has shuttered over 1,800 real estate firms and forced 340 other companies into insolvency in the first quarter alone, and has sapped demand for credit, and in turn, weighed on economic activity.
This “is great news for the market,” said Duong Thuy Dung, executive director of CBRE Vietnam. “It shows the government’s determination in removing roadblocks for real estate,” she said, citing legal issues as the biggest challenge.
More than 150 properties in Ho Chi Minh City have been suspended because of legal bottlenecks, according to Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association. Legal issues are at the root of 70% of the problems developers in the city has faced, the group’s head Le Hoang Chau said in December.
“This is good news for the market sentiment and helps developers to overcome market headwinds,” said Truc Pham, manager of the real estate sector at ACB Securities Co. The other projects comprise Gotecland’s Shizen Home, Gamuda’s Celadon City, Son Kim Land’s Metropole and Masterise’s The Global City, according to Truc.
Novaland said it’s also in talks with financial partners and contractors to restart construction in other key projects NovaWorld Phan Thiet, NovaWorld Ho Tram, Aqua City and residential projects in Ho Chi Minh City in the coming months.
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