The People’s Committee of the central province of Quang Ngai has given the go-ahead to the Hoang Anh Mineral Joint Stock Company to build a 1 trillion VND (58.9 million USD) steel billet plant in Duc Pho district.

Prices for many building materials at city stores have gone up by 10-30 percent. Rolled steel currently cost VND22-23 million (US$1,290-1,350) per ton, up VND1.5-2 million (US$88-US$118).

The energy-saving building CentrePoint, said to be the first of its type in Vietnam, will join the office-building market in the second quarter next year, the local owner Refico said yesterday.

Dai Nam Group is expected to open a huge tourism complex in the southern province of Binh Duong in September, the group's vice chairman said.

A survey by Grant Thornton showed that hotel room rates in Hanoi are the highest in Vietnam, while the rates in Da Lat are the lowest in the country.

Nguyen Minh Phong, head of the Economics Research Department at the Ha Noi Socio-Economic Development and Research Institution, spoke to Hai Quan (Customs) about Ha Noi's unused villas and land.

The frozen real estate market and lack of capital have put big difficulties on real estate developers. However, they have been advised to keep patient and wait, as big opportunities are still ahead.

Three major corporations from China are planning to pour around 2 billion USD into Vietnam’s northern Thai Nguyen to turn it into an eco-industrial city, said a local official.

Private business CT Group opened its new trade and service building worth US$30 million last Saturday, putting another high-end destination for local and foreign customers on the map.

A "caddy" on the Dong Mo King Island Golf Course west of Hanoi. Communist Vietnam plans to restrict the growth of new golf courses encroaching on rice farms to ensure national food security and protect thousands of poor farmers Vietnam plans to restrict the growth of new golf courses encroaching on rice farms to ensure national food security and protect thousands of poor farmers, state media reported yesterday.

A construction project in Ho Chi Minh City. The prices of housing and construction materials rose 24.9 percent in July from a year earlier, the General Statistics Office said last week.