The front façade of the post office building is richly ornate, and the entrance doorway is elegant and stylish with intricate iron grillwork on folding doors, with a large clock prominently featured above. Wooden benches at the far end of the post office are a unique feature that provide visitors with space to write letters or send postcards back home, adding a warmth to the place. A large portrait of Vietnam’s revered leader Ho Chi Minh, at the rear end of the hallway, is perhaps the only modern day addition to this enchanting colonial building. The interior of the post office with vaulted ceiling and antique patterned tiles is impressive. However, another surprise awaits travelers to Saigon inside this imposing post office building in the form of a local icon, an 89-year-old octogenarian, named Duong Van Ngo. Ngo can be found seated at the end of one of the wooden benches, writing a postcard for his visitors or just plain chatting about his life, now having been a … [Read more...] about Saigon’s last living ‘Public Writer’
Is saigon now called ho chi minh city
Ho Chi Minh City ramps up real estate
Projects from high-rise apartments to a safari park are on the lookout for funding, Photo: Le Toan Paths to choose investors under current legal framework - Decision or written approval of investment policy (based on the laws on Investment and Housing) for projects that investors have legal land-use already. - Auction of land-use rights (based on the laws on Land Law and Property Auction) for projects located on clear land and compensated areas and projects which have assets on the site, and those assets are under state ownership. - Bidding to select investors (based on the Bidding Law) for projects located in highly-valued land areas which need to be given into selection in order to build new urban areas, commercial housing and service projects, and multi-functional complexes. - Public-private partnership (based on the Bidding Law) in cases of projects with contracts between competent state agencies and investors to construct, renovate, … [Read more...] about Ho Chi Minh City ramps up real estate
Ho Chi Minh City calls for investors in 210 projects
Ho Chi Minh City, illustration photo In 2015, Emaar Properties from Dubai decided to co-develop a mammoth $1.42 billion urban area in Binh Quoi-Thanh Da of Ho Chi Minh City with domestic Bitexco Group. Despite having the requisite financial and technical capacity, Emaar Properties, however, had to withdraw from the project in 2017, after the compensation and land clearance was not completed in two years. Also impacted by the sluggish compensation and land clearance, Hongkong Land, a company under Jardine Matheson Vietnam, in 2016 had to quit from a project on a golden land plot in the city centre. Alain Cany, country chairman of Jardine Matheson Group, previously told VIR that despite the company’s tight co-operation with the city authorities, it was difficult to manage the delays caused by land clearance and compensation which also increased costs. According to Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, improving the … [Read more...] about Ho Chi Minh City calls for investors in 210 projects
Giselle to return to the Saigon stage
Giselle to return to the Saigon stage By Bradley Winterton Romantic ballet Giselle will be staged at the Saigon Opera House on November 9 - PHOTO: COURTESY OF HBSO HCMC - After being seen for two nights in September, HBSO’s beautiful ballet production, Giselle, will return to the Saigon Opera House for a single performance on November 9. The story of a village girl who is loved both by a young aristocrat and a local peasant is a staple of ballet companies all over the world. It’s in two acts, and the girl, Giselle, dies at the end of Act One. She is then recruited into a band of ghosts, the Wilis – the spirits of young girls who died before they ever had the chance to marry. They are now the determined foes of all males, and manage to kill Giselle’s peasant admirer, Hilarion, when he comes to visit Giselle’s grave. They have the same fate in mind for her aristocratic lover, Albert, but the spirit of Giselle manages to save him through the power … [Read more...] about Giselle to return to the Saigon stage
Billion dollar projects sitting idle in Saigon south
The road to the billion-dollar Saigon Pennisula project is seriously dilapidated High initial expectations The Mui Den Do theme park and modern urban development complex called Saigon Peninsula in Phu Nhuan taking up 117ha in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7 and worth $6 billion in total investment value, evoked great hopes among city residents at its ground-breaking ceremony. According to the developer Saigon Peninsula Group JSC and the broker, Saigon Peninsula will ensure harmony between urban space and natural setting, and acting as the “green lung” of Ho Chi Minh City. Simultaneously, it will function as a multi-purpose urban development and provide ideal space to meet every need for housing, commercial office area, as well as modern and upscale entertainment in Ho Chi Minh City’s southern part. Besides, the complex also features a 600m international marina with an estimated scale reaching 4.6ha. Once completed and put into use, the marina could receive … [Read more...] about Billion dollar projects sitting idle in Saigon south