Lotte Group, the fifth largest company in South Korea, is seeking approval to develop two large property projects in Ho Chi Minh City said to be even larger than Seoul’s Lotte World recreation complex.

Scores of investors are lining up to develop the Saigon River banks
The group last week submitted master plans, which have already been received by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, to the Ministry of Planning an Investment.
The first project worth around $2 billion, will see a 50-storey retail and office complex be situated on a prime location near the Saigon River.
Chang-Bae Lee, president of Lotte Engineering & Construction Company – a subsidiary company of Lotte Group, said the project had a favourable position near District 1 and there would be a metro station under the complex.
District 2 will accommodate the second project which will see a new urban area, a 100-storey building, a five-star hotel, an indoor theme park, an outdoor amusement park, office and residential buildings, shopping malls and an international school.
“This complex will be like Lotte World in Seoul. Lotte World was built nearly 20 years ago so the plan to develop the complex in Ho Chi Minh City will be even larger and more modern than Lotte World,” Lee said.
Lotte World consists of a large indoor theme and outdoor amusement parks, shopping malls, sports facilities and movie theatres. Opened from 1989, it receives about five million visitors each year.
Although Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam’s largest city and its economic centre, it still lacks commercial centres and entertainment sites. The A.T. Kearney’s 2007 Global Retail Development Index ranked Vietnam as the world’s fourth most attractive retail market, behind India and Russia.
The city’s residential and office markets are also becoming hot.
Lotte’s projects, if approved, would contribute to the supply of the market and could be a good destination for locals, foreigners living in the city to shopping, relaxing and a perfect spot for sightseeing, said Lee. Lotte Group was established in 1965 and operates in the service, finance, construction, distribution and industry sectors.
The group has also developed the Lotte Mart and Lotteria in Vietnam and acquired apart of Vietnamese Kinh Do confectionery firm.
By Ninh Kieu