Project profile tarnishes the face of Ho Chi Minh City
Along with two other projects, the SJC Tower and Lavenue Crown, Saigon One Tower was once pointed out by Ho Chi Minh City leaders as one of three projects that tarnish the appearance of Ho Chi Minh City. All three projects are located on "golden land" in the center of District 1.
Construction began in 2007, with a designed height of 195m (41 floors), Saigon One Tower was once in the top 10 tallest buildings in Vietnam and the top 3 tallest buildings in Ho Chi Minh City after Bitexco Financial Tower and Vietcombank Tower (before Landmark 81). With an investment capital of more than 5,000 billion VND, located at the corner of Ham Nghi - Ton Duc Thang - Vo Van Kiet, the project was expected to become an architectural symbol of the splendid city.
Photo of the project that will disfigure Ho Chi Minh City in August 2022 (Photo: Kim Ngoc).
Initially, the project was invested by Saigon One Tower Joint Stock Company, a joint venture of M&C Joint Stock Company, Saigon Tourist Corporation - Saigontourist , Dong A Commercial Joint Stock Bank, Dong A Bank Securities Company Limited and Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company PNJ. The project was expected to be completed in 2009, but then, in 2011, the project stopped construction even though the rough construction had been completed.
This entire project was once collateral for a credit loan with principal and interest of more than VND 7,000 billion up to 2017 at MSB and DongA Bank, becoming a bad debt, part of a criminal case, and was seized by the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) in 2017.
Since then, the project has gone through many "storms". In 2019, VAMC announced that it would auction the project with a starting price of 6,110 billion VND, but has not yet done so.
At this time, discussing how to "rescue" the project from being abandoned, Mr. Le Hoang Chau - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA) - said that this is a typical case of how to handle bad debt as real estate assets. Mr. Chau said that if auctioned (in 2019), the remaining land use time of the project would be only 29 years (minus 11 years due to the land allocation decision in 2008). Therefore, the value of the project has decreased and is less attractive to investors.
Photo of the project taken last April, after the project only had its exterior glass replaced (instead of being restarted as previously rumored) (Photo: Kim Ngoc).
Therefore, it is necessary to supplement the method of calculating the land use term from the time of receiving the transfer of land use rights to the time of receiving the transfer of land use rights (of the type of land allocated, leased land with a term, approved by a competent state agency). For example, a project with a land use term of 50 years, which is "covered" for 10 years before being transferred, it is recommended that the transferee be allowed to use the land for 50 years.
In addition, it is necessary to supplement the method of calculating the land use term from the time of winning the auction of land use rights. When receiving the transfer of land use rights belonging to the type of land allocated or leased for a term through auction of land use rights, including the case of auctioning the collateral of "bad debts". For example, the Saigon One Tower project, if the term is recalculated to 50 years from the date of winning the auction, the starting price of the auction can be determined to be higher than 6,110 billion VND, ensuring the interests of the parties involved, including the interests of the bank with collateral of the "bad debt" and attracting many investors to participate in the auction.
When the story of "rescuing" Saigon One Tower was not yet settled, the auction had not yet been carried out, in 2020, a domestic enterprise registered with the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, asking to invest in the project. However, at that time, the capacity of this enterprise was also an issue that needed to be considered when its assets were less than 9 million VND, and its actual contributed capital was only about 10 million VND, as of the end of 2019.
The appearance of Viva Land and the story of only replacing glass for the project
In 2021, Viva Land Investment & Development Joint Stock Company appeared as the project management and development unit. The project was also renamed IFC One Saigon with the sign outside "The one the only", expressing the value of "being one is the only".
Viva Land is known as a member of the ecosystem of Van Thinh Phat Group. Along with appearing at IFC One Saigon, Viva Land also increased its presence in many luxury projects on prime land in Ho Chi Minh City such as One Central HCM opposite Ben Thanh Market... Viva Land also introduced on its website many other famous projects in the management and development category such as the Red Cape project (District 7, Ho Chi Minh City), the Capital Place office building worth 550 million USD in Hanoi , 2 plots of land at the super project Tuan Chau Island (Quang Ninh)...
The desolate scene inside the project (Photo: Kim Ngoc).
After being acquired by Viva Land, IFC One Saigon had all the exterior glass replaced. At that time, there was a lot of information about the project being restarted, but in reality, the company only replaced the exterior glass.
Some forums at that time also said that the project would continue to be implemented and sold at 1 billion VND/m2 for apartment products. It was thought that the project would be restarted, but the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction said that the project had been suspended for many years, leading to the possibility that the glass frames were not able to withstand force, causing safety problems as well as affecting the urban beauty.
Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City allows investors to install new glass frames to beautify the urban area, ensure safety for people and must complete before September 1, 2022. Investors are not allowed to do other items because this project is currently waiting for the conclusion of the Government Inspectorate.
The fate of IFC One Saigon is still "awaiting the conclusion of the Government Inspectorate" when in October 2022, a number of senior leaders of Van Thinh Phat Group were arrested, including Ms. Truong My Lan, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors.
Details of the dismantled part below (Photo: Kim Ngoc).
According to Dan Tri 's records on April 20, the project's glass layers on the 6 floors below the building were removed. The glass layer above was still intact. The construction site was locked and quiet, there was no one inside, and materials were scattered. Some opinions said that the glass layers below were not actively removed but because they were broken, they needed to be reconstructed. This happened in September 2022, before the leader of Van Thinh Phat was arrested.
IFC One Saigon is not an exceptional case of "freezing" in the group of Viva Land projects in particular and of Van Phat Group in general after the incident of the leaders. The One Central HCM project opposite Ben Thanh market has completely replaced the name Viva Land on the signboard outside the project. The 35 million USD villa in Vo Van Tan, District 3 also stopped renovation and renovation...
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