Mapletree invests in Viet business park

Source: Business Times - 15 Oct 2008

MAPLETREE Investments has inked an agreement to develop a US$400 million integrated business park in Vietnam’s Binh Duong province.

The 75-hectare Mapletree Business City @ Binh Duong will cater to a range of industries including software and product development, backroom and middle room processing, research and development, and value-added manufacturing.

Construction of the business park is expected to start next year and development will take place in phases.

‘The development of Mapletree Business City @ Binh Duong is an opportunity for us to expand on our first logistics investment in Vietnam and diversify our investments into other asset types,’ said Mapletree chairman Edmund Cheng.

The real estate group is also the developer of the Mapletree Logistics Park in Binh Duong, a US$110 million 68-hectare park within the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park II (VSIP II).

Mapletree celebrated the topping-out of the first building in the Mapletree Logistics Park yesterday. It also signed letters of intent with six logistics customers for space in the park, which will be opened soon.

The first phase of the Mapletree Logistics Park will offer 65,000 square metres of non-bonded warehousing space and will be ready next month. The second phase, with 65,000 sq m of bonded space, will come onstream early next year.

‘Mapletree sees a lot of potential in Binh Duong province. With its strategic location close to major seaports, airports and Ho Chi Minh City, we are keen to partner the province in its next phase of growth,’ said Mr Cheng.

‘We see the business park and logistics sectors as key growth areas within the province, with the demand from multinational companies for more and better-quality business space taking on an increasing significance in the years to come.’

Mapletree Logistics Park is Mapletree’s second logistics facility in Vietnam. The first - the Mapletree Logistics Centre, located in VSIP I - opened in February last year.

According to an Asian Business Council survey, Vietnam attracted new licensed projects with committed investments of US$46.3 billion from January to August this year. Within Vietnam, Binh Duong is the fourth largest recipient of the foreign direct investment.