HANOI, Vietnam (May 19): Gamuda Land’s Gamuda City township development in Hanoi, Vietnam is expected to contribute higher sales to group revenue this year and the year after, despite that 200 hectares (ha) of the initial 474ha of land for the township development is being returned to the local government.

Located in the southern part of Hanoi city centre, Gamuda City is the first property development by Gamuda Bhd’s property arm in Vietnam.

The township has a gross development value of US$3.5 billion (RM15 billion) and is expected to be fully developed in the next 10 to 15 years.

Gamuda City currently consists of four parcels of land, namely Parcel A, B, C1 and C2. Gamuda Land received the rights from the government to develop the parcels for constructing the biggest sewage treatment plant in the city in 2007.

Gamuda Land is in the midst of returning Parcel B (200ha of land) to the government, as “it is not worth developing due to the large amount of compensation that needs to be paid [to existing residents on the parcel]”, said Gamuda Land Vietnam general director Chow Chee Fan. The estimated compensation is about US$100 million.

The proposed plan for Parcel B was for commercial developments, but just 80ha of land is suitable for development, as the rest of the site is made up of a few lakes with a combined size of 120ha, Chow told reporters at a group media interview session on Thursday, May 18, in Hanoi.

The process of returning Parcel B back to the government is expected to be completed next month.

However, Chow stressed the move is not expected to affect sales contribution from Gamuda City, as Parcel B has not yet been developed.

Sales contribution from the township for FY2017 ending July 31 and for FY2018 is expected to be around US$150 million, Chow added, which is higher than the US$120 million achieved in FY2016.