Perspectives

Many delegates discuss solutions to reduce congestion at Cat Lai Port in HCMC. (Photo: SGGP) The workshop attracted more than 70 delegates from customs authorities, ministries, and the business community to discuss this action plan. At the workshop, the relevant units announced 21 recommendations to improve the operational efficiency of Cat Lai Port to meet the increasing demand. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the port was operating at full capacity. Meanwhile, the demand calculated by the number of containers is forecast to double by 2030. The above 21 recommendations are the results of a pre-feasibility study on congestion prevention and logistics facilitation at Cat Lai Port conducted by the Trade Facilitation Project funded by the USAID from May 2020 to March 2021. The study comprehensively reviewed port operations on an area of 160 hectares to assess operational efficiency, bottlenecks, and shortcomings in the process of enhancing the handling capacity of the port. On … [Read more...] about HCMC cooperates with USAID to ease container congestion at Cat Lai Port

At a Wednesday conference held by the Communist Party's Secretariat regarding sustainable development of Vietnam’s urban areas by 2030, with vision until 2045, Tran Tuan Anh, head of the Central Economic Commission, said the Party's decision-making Politburo has requested for quicker, better urbanization, as well as sustainably developing urban areas into networks. By 2025, the urbanization rate of Vietnam would be around 45 percent, with 950-1,000 urban areas. By 2030, the rate would be at 50 percent with 1,000-1,200 urban areas. The goal means Vietnam would need 100 more urban areas in the next decade. The country would also have certain urban centers at national and regional level, with medical, education and cultural criteria similar to other urban areas in countries among the top four in Southeast Asia. In those urban areas, the ratio between traffic land and construction land must be at 16-26 percent in 2030. Tree coverage for each person on average must reach 8-10 per … [Read more...] about Vietnam aims to be 50 percent urbanized by 2030

Pham Viet Tuan-Associate, Indochine Counsel Many of the negative risks arise because of the complicated Vietnamese land laws, which prevent not only foreign investors but also local developers from developing projects. This article will give some hints on how they could properly tackle issues related to land in property project development through the contribution of land. In the Vietnamese real estate market, it is common for a property developer to have land but not the budget or experience/resources needed to develop the project. In this case, such developers might seek other ways to conduct their business plan. Some solutions may be to secure a loan facility from a bank; to cooperate with other developers who have experience/resources in the project development; or to call for financial aid from funds, and foreign/local investors or to issue bonds in the capital market. Each solution has its pros and cons. From a foreign perspective, project land is essential to project … [Read more...] about Making better decisions in real estate

Jens Olaf Økland, Equinor’s senior vice president Why did Equinor choose now to open an office in Hanoi? We believe it is very timely to open an office now. Vietnam is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and power markets. With its long coastline and favourable wind conditions, the country has among the best wind resources in Asia and a strong desire to develop an offshore wind market. The country is on a path to becoming net-zero and offshore wind can enable this transition. We believe Vietnam has a high potential to become an interesting growth market for offshore wind and have therefore opened a representative office in Hanoi. Vietnam has set ambitious targets for offshore wind both for 2030 and 2045 which would result in Vietnam being one of the top offshore wind markets globally. The end of the decade is not that far away and a lot of things still need to come into place, both on the regulatory side and for the industry, but this is also natural in the … [Read more...] about Equinor reaffirms entry in Vietnam’s offshore wind

Ho Chi Minh City, May 17, 2022, Touchstone Partners today announced that it participated in Eureka Robotics’ recently closed pre-Series A round of funding, which raised US$4.25 million from a handful of investors. In this fundraising round, Touchstone joins lead investor The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) and existing investor ATEQ. Eureka Robotics is a Singapore-based start-up which develops software and systems to automate tasks that require simultaneously High Accuracy and High Agility (HA-HA) across a range of industries, including optics, electronics, and automotive. The company has deployed robots and systems in factories in Singapore, China and Japan. Eureka Robotics was founded in 2018. The company plans to use the new capital raised to expand its operations beyond Singapore where it is headquartered and Paris, France, where it maintains an R&D office, including establishing an office in Vietnam in Hanoi in July 2022. It initially plans to … [Read more...] about Touchstone Partners invests in Eureka Robotics