Big housing project set to join market next week

HCMC - Local property developer Van Phat Hung Corporation is pressing ahead with a plan to market its condo project in HCMC’s District 7 by launching a sales program for first apartments in the project next week.

Vo Anh Tuan, chairman of the corporation, says the La Casa condo project will gauge homebuyers’ feedback in the market with some 110 apartments with prices starting from US$1,000 (VND19.5 million) per square meter.

Tuan says the corporation has invested some VND3,000 billion, or over US$150 million, to develop the La Casa project, which is located on Hoang Quoc Viet and Dao Tri streets, facing the Nha Be River in District 7, some eight kilometers from the heart of HCMC.

The residential project is located on a 6-hectare area with 10 blocks of buildings from 28 to 35 stories, offering the local property market some 2,000 apartments and penthouses from 85 to 124 square meters.

Apart from commercial apartments, the project is designed with a section of apartments for lease and a section of 58,000 square meters for hotel and office spaces. Besides, it also includes spaces for retail and other serviced facilities such as an entertainment section, parks, fitness centers and schools.

“By launching the sales program, we want to stay ahead on the market when it is projected to look brighter in the coming time,” Tuan says in response to the Daily’s question why the corporation decided to launch its market program at a time when the local property market has witnessed stagnant trade.

He says the market has experienced difficulties for nearly three years, from 2008 – 2010, and following its cycle development, the market is foreseen to go up again in the coming time given the country’s positive trend of recovery.

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CC1 fined VND222 mill. for construction violations

HCMC – HCMC authorities have just imposed an administrative fine of VND222 million on Construction Corporation No. 1 (CC1) for breaching construction rules in a road project linking Thu Thiem Bridge and the East-West Highway.

CC1 as the main contractor of the road project was fined for multiple violations such as using unqualified steel components in construction, employing unqualified supervisors, and failing to buy insurance for its five consultancy packages among others, according to a decision issued by the city government.

Besides heavy fines on CC1, the city government has also asked the corporation to promptly repair its violations in accordance with the construction regulations for ensuring the road quality.

Early this week, the Ministry of Transport also announced the administrative penalty decision on CC1.

The road linking Thu Thiem Bridge and the East-West Highway stretches 900 meters with a width of 25 meters. Construction on the project started early this year and has neared completion by now.

However, vehicles could hardly travel through the linking road because the construction of a road section on the East-West Highway has not yet been finished, according to an official of the city’s Department of Transport.

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Market continues upsurge

HCMC – The local market continued to gain solid ground on Tuesday following the strong recovery on Monday, with the VN-Index adding 10.53 points, or 2.37%, from the previous session to close at 455.08.

Liquidity on the southern bourse improved sharply as up to 55.6 million shares worth VND1.5 trillion were traded at the end of the day, increasing by 61% and 81% against the session earlier respectively. Bids increased by 28.5% to nearly 102 million shares while offers rocketed 97% from the previous session to 76.6 million shares.

The market started the day a bit higher and then after a brief correction resumed its climb and hit a high of 455.43 by the end of the second matching phase before finally trading flat until the close.

The number of gainers once again outnumbered that of losers by 9 to 1, at 215 to 24, of which 97 closed at the ceiling prices and two others dropped to the floor prices.

Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) took the lead in terms of liquidity, ending the day up 4.8% to VND28,000 with 3.3 million shares traded, followed by Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corp. (REE), which advanced 1.8% from the previous day to VND17,100 on the volume of 2.6 million shares.

Foreigners turned strong net buyers on Tuesday, acquiring 8.4 million shares worth VND353 billion and offloading 4.4 million shares worth VND160 billion. They accounted for 24% and 11% of the market’s buying and selling respectively.

The Hanoi market also gained further on Tuesday in much better turnover of around VND1 trillion. The HNX-Index jumped another 3.52 points, or 2.82%, from the previous session and ended the day at 128.4.

Up to 263 stocks advanced while 44 stocks dropped, including 18 stocks hitting the ceiling prices and three stocks dropping to the floor prices.

Fiachra Mac Cana, managing director of HCMC Securities Corp., said the markets continued their run on Tuesday after a tentative start and predictably hit resistance at 455 points on the VN-Index. Market volumes expanded significantly and came close to summer averages. Foreigners were very active on Tuesday after the market breakout was confirmed on Monday perhaps seizing a last chance to bargain hunt in case prices move higher.

“In terms of the very short term, however, given that on Thursday is the last trading day of the short week perhaps we might be forgiven for predicting a quieter trading day with some profit taking expected. However, we note that closing bids (top three prices) were above 21 million shares suggesting that the market still has considerable buying power left and should offer support not far below where we closed,” Mac Cana added.

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High disbursement shows positive economic signs

A positive trend in economic development is reflected in the high disbursement of investment and development project funds.

Statistics show that an estimated 92.1 trillion VND (roughly 4.7
billion USD) was disbursed from the State budget for development
projects in the first eight months of the year, making up almost 74
percent of the annual plan. Disbursement of Official Development
Assistance (ODA) commitments reached over 1.8 billion USD, or 74.5
percent of the annual target and 13.5 percent increase year on year.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) saw up to 7.25 billion USD disbursed,
representing an increase of 3.6 percent over the same period last year.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI)
forecast that development investment this year is expected to reach 800
trillion VND, accounting for 41.37 percent of gross domestic product and
representing a growth of 12.9 percent year on year.

Once the disbursement is reached, it would be the second consecutive
year Vietnam has surpassed the annual target for development
investment, said MPI.

The trend was of primary
importance for Vietnam since the country is largely dependent on
investment for economic growth, the ministry explained.

The figures have shown the great efforts made by the Government,
ministries, industries and local administrations to mobilise different
financial sources for development amid post-crisis economic difficulties
worldwide.

The figures were evidence of investors’ and partners’ confidence in Vietnam’s potential for growth, MPI said.

Problems, however, remain with cumbersome administrative procedures and limited management competence.

Experts have called on responsible agencies to move promptly in
reviewing and adjusting relevant policies and streamlining
administrative procedures in an effort to increase the country’s
capacity to absorb investment.

The Director of the
National Centre for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast, Le Dinh
An, said measures to lure FDI should be associated with economic
restructuring and geared to concrete industries and products.

Such an orientation should be also applied to ODA fundraising, he added.

National Assembly Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Kien proposed an early
orientation for mobilising and using ODA at a workshop in July.

He also called for relevant agencies to make objective evaluations of
national debts in support of mobilising financial sources for economic
development./.

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Opportunities for garment, footwear industries

As China took the second rank in world economies from Japan,
experts described the event as an opportunity for small economies
depending on outsourcing, including Vietnam.

Experts predict
that China would reduce outsourcing activity in industries using
large numbers of workers, such as garment and textiles, and boost
development of products with high added value. The country may lose its
advantages of competitiveness in materials and low production costs and
face pay increases.

Diep Thanh Kiet, Deputy President of the
Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association, forecast that with cheap
labour costs, Vietnam would be able to take a large volume of orders
in garment and textile, leather and footwear and furniture.

Until
now, most Vietnamese garment and textile exporters had enough orders
for 2010, and some stopped receiving new orders to give priority to
already signed contracts. In addition, prices of export items increased
15 percent over last year in US, Japanese and European markets.

The
increase in Vietnam’s export turnover is also credited to the
country’s implementation of economic and trade agreements with
other countries. Vietnam’s garment and textile exports to the
Republic of Korea increased 80 percent thanks to the tax reduction
under the ASEAN-RoK Free Trade Agreement. Meanwhile, the Vietnam-Japan
Economic and Trade Agreement helped Vietnam’s garment and textile
exports to Japan increase 15 percent over the same period last year.

In the first eight months of this year, Vietnam earned nearly 6.9 billion USD from garment and textile exports.

Kiet said that many customers selected Vietnamese footwear instead of Chinese ones for their high quality and reasonable prices.

The
country obtained an export turnover of more than 3.2 billion USD from
footwear exports, a year-on-year increase of 18.8 percent. Of this
figure, almost 700 million USD was earned from the US.

However, Kiet showed his worry about the capacity of Vietnamese
enterprises if they receive orders transferring from China, which
exports about 8 billion pairs of shoes a year. He said for Vietnam
to take just 10 percent of that amount, local footwear industry must
double its production capacity.

For the garment and textile
sector, the lesson will be the same. This means the sector must increase
its capacity by 2.5 times to receive 10 percent of orders from China. In 2009, China exported 150 billion USD worth of garments and
textiles, while Vietnam exported 9.2 billion USD.

To take
those opportunities, experts said Vietnamese garment and textile and
footwear industries must promptly overcome outstanding problems in human
resources, materials and technology to raise capacity and the
competitiveness for their products./.

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Vietnam predicts GDP growth rate of 6.7 pct

An apparent recovery trend that the national economy has shown in the
past eight months provides experts with the grounds to predict that
Vietnam will achieve a GDP growth rate of 6.7 percent and rein in
inflation to below 8 percent this year.

According to the General Statistics Office, the country raked in 44.5
billion USD in export earnings in the past eight months, representing a
year-on-year increase of 19.7 percent and a three-fold rise over the
yearly plan.

In the review period, the country attained an
industrial production value of over 504 trillion VND, showing a year on
year rise of 13.7 percent which surpassed the yearly plan.

Seeing
those positive signs and the recovery of the global economy, many
cabinet members at their August meeting predicted that the country’s GDP
would reach 7.18 percent in the third quarter.

They forecast
that it would grow at 6.7 percent for the whole year, surpassing the 6.5
percent goal targeted by the National Assembly.

There is a
favourable development in the CPI, as it rose just 0.23 percent in
August over July, constituting a low growth rate in the fifth
consecutive month. It rose just 5.08 percent compared with December,
2009.

If CPI growth is maintained at this speed and grows 0.7
percent a month from now to the end of this year, it is forecasted not
to exceed 8 percent as set early this year.

Experts say in this
difficult circumstance, reining in inflation is significant as it will
enable policymakers to take bolder steps in managing the macro economy
and make the life of people, especially low-income earners, more stable.

To
fulfill the yearly growth targets and deal with elements that can drive
prices up in the remaining months of the year, including natural
disasters, diseases, and fluctuations in the world market, Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has in the cabinet’s August meeting asked
relevant ministries, sectors and localities to continue providing
businesses with the best conditions they can to boost their production
and exports and lure more local and foreign investment.

He also
asked relevant agencies to intensify the management of prices, bank loan
interest rates and the foreign exchange rate and make adjustments
suitable for actual needs./.

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Viettel reduces roaming charge in Laos, Cambodia

Viettel’s subscribers who use Unitel in Laos and Metfone in Cambodia
will be offered a 60 percent discount to 0.10 USD per minute when using
roaming services.

The roaming service allows Viettel’s subscribers to use their own mobile
phone number with services such as SMS, GPRS, EDGE and EG Data in
foreign countries.

Under this policy, Viettel’s
roaming subscribers using Unitel and Metfone will enjoy a 70 percent
lower charge. The reduction is also its next step in improving the
preferential roaming charge policy in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Hoang Son, director of Viettel Telecom said that with its investment
expansion to Haiti, Mozambique, Myanmar and African countries, Viettel’s
roaming subscribers within Viettel’s networks will continue to enjoy
more benefits in the future.

After nine months of
operation, Viettel’s subscribers have so far roamed to 305 mobile
networks of 118 countries and territories worldwide.

In addition to phone and SMS service, Viettel’s roaming subscribers can
use GPRS to 160 networks of 83 countries and 3G service to 87 networks
of 59 countries. Particularly, roaming users also receive incoming SMS
free of charge.

Viettel is Vietnam’s only service
provider to allow prepaid roaming subscribers to make phone calls and
send SMS and vice versa to 33 networks of 29 countries and territories./.

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