Ho Chi Minh City construction update – 2023 edition

This is the 5th annual Ho Chi Minh City construction update at Future Southeast Asia (here are the updates for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022).

It’s been an eventful year since the last update, so let’s get started. This is a general overview and not an exhaustive list.

Construction news

One Central HCM

One Central HCM continues to blight central HCMC with its concrete shell looming over Ben Thanh. This project has gone through multiple owners and name changes over the years, but when the base of the two towers started to rise, it looked like this project might finally become a reality.

Unfortunately, One Central HCM was being developed by Viva Lnd, who are caught up in the Van Thinh Phat scandal that is still unfolding. In October 2022 the chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group (VTP) was arrested over suspected financial fraud.

Any development related to VTP was stopped until investigators untangled their holdings. VTP are based in Ho Chi Minh City, and they are well known for owning many of the prime blocks of real estate in the city. I haven’t found a definitive list, and the news reports are just as confusing.

After chairwoman Truong My Lan was arrested in October 2022, HCMC police said they were clarifying the origins of 156 buildings linked to VTP. By October 2023, the police said there were 762 companies affiliated with Van Thinh Phat.

I have been bookmarking news about VTP, and I will have to make a fact sheet to keep track of the timeline. This article from 2017 mentions that the group has a slew of companies with complex cross-ownership.

Bitexco Group was the original developer, and they have taken over the project again under the company name of Saigon Glory (wholly owned by Bitexco Group). The company reported a loss for 2022.

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