Viet Hung Urban Development and Investment Co broke ground on Saturday on a US$8 billion township just 12.8km from the heart of Ha Noi, across the Hong River.

HCM City will boost investment in construction and investment in transport infrastructure in the remaining months of the year, said leader of HCM City at a periodic meeting to assess the results of the performance of social-economic plans in for the last eight months.

Multi-billion dollar foreign steel projects in Vietnam are likely to face delays because of the global economic slump, even though demand in the country is forecast to grow 20% this year and 10-15% next year.

Viet Steel Group will begin work on the second phase of a steel plant in the Phu My industrial zone in the southern province of Ba Ria -Vung Tau at the beginning of September.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is rushing to finish inspecting the efficiency of land use and to map out land allocation for next year for submission to the Government this month.

Ho Chi Minh City is expected to become a 10-million-population metropolis with satellite urban areas by 2020, according to a draft report on the city’s urban development recently sent to local authorities.

Southeast Asia's largest property developer CapitaLand said on Tuesday it was deploying S$1 billion of 1.8 billion in capital raised from a recent rights issue to its businesses in China, Vietnam and the Ascott Group.

American's Starwood Hotels & Resorts is planning to open three new high-end hotels and resorts in well-known tourist destinations in Vietnam in the next three years.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) registration in Vietnam reached US$10.453 billion in the first eight months of 2009, fell 8.5 percent compared with the same period last year, said a Ministry of Planning and Investment report.

While the apartment market remains very quiet because of low demand, houses priced at below 2 billion dong have been selling very well because the number of people who have a demand for and ability to purchase houses at medium price levels keeps rising.

Real estate valuation institutions are still playing a minimal role in the real estate market, which explains why investors cannot get the information they want when they are considering investment decisions.