VietNam Business: Khang Thong

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Hanoi firm to build $2 bln theme park near HCMC

An artist impression of the Happyland theme park and amusement complex in Long An Province

Photo: Photo courtesy of Khang Thong Corp

Hanoi-based infrastructure developer Khang Thong Corp will invest $2 billion to build the Happyland theme park and amusement complex in Long An Province.

The 338-hectare complex in Ben Luc District, situated 20 minutes by road from Ho Chi Minh City, will have a $600 million theme park designed and operated by the US-based Steelman Partner, Singapore-based Meinhardt Group, and UK-based PricewaterhouseCoopers and Savills Property Group.

It will reportedly be modeled on famous international theme parks like Walt Disney and Universal Studio.

The complex, licensed in June, will have an exhibition center, a commercial center, hotels in categories ranging from three-to five-star, a water park, film studio, discotheque, museums, apartments, and villas.

Khang Thong will obtain loans from Agribank, BIDV, and Oceanbank and sell stakes in its subsidiary, Phu An Infrastructure Investment and Development Co, to foreign investors.

Work is expected to begin next January and finish in April 2014.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Major amusement park in the offing in Long An

An artist’s impression of Happyland Vietnam project in Long An Province - Photo: Courtesy of Khang Thong Group

HCMC - Phu An Infrastructure Development and Construction JSC, a subsidiary of Khang Thong Group, announced on Monday to start building a big amusement project in the Mekong Delta province of Long An next year.

Nguyen Thanh Su, deputy general director of Khang Thong Group, told the Daily on the phone on Monday that the Happyland Vietnam project would require around US$2 billion, with US$600 million going to a theme park similar to Disneyland and Universal Studio, the famous amusement destinations in the world.

The first phase of the project will start on 338 hectares, stretching along the Vam Co Dong River. It will be expanded in the second phase, according to the company which on Monday introduced the project’s investment opportunities in the capital city of Hanoi to potential investors in the northern region.

In addition to the amusement section, the project will have a commercial section providing some 160,000 square meters of space, a section for three -and five-star hotels with some 1,000 guest rooms and a section for residential development with villas and shophouses, among other facilities.

The firm said Happyland could receive around 14 million visitors a year and generate jobs for about 10,000 people in the province.

Answering a question about the financial capability of the investor, Su said the group would use its own budget and join hands with strategic partners. “We are mulling a plan to list on the bourse to pool capital,” Su told the Daily on Monday.

The company is expected to organize an investment opportunity seminar in HCMC, about 30 km from Long An, in the middle of this month.

Su said the group was working with its partners to begin work on the project by January next year and complete it by April 2014.

VietNam Business