SaigonTel chairman Dang Thanh Tam, speaking at the company’s recent annual meeting in HCMC, said that the company would develop its second ICT center in HCMC after over two years operating its first center.

The Saigon ICT II Tower will be built near the Saigon ICT Tower in District 12’s Quang Trung Software City, Tam said. The new building will be equipped with broadband Internet lines and ICT equipment and will supply skilled laborers.

This year, SaigonTel will also develop a 20-hectare science park in Tan Phu Trung Industrial Park, in HCMC’s Cu Chi District, to attract hi-tech foreign companies.

According to Tam, SaigonTel will build 120,000 square meters of factories for mechanical engineering, electronics, chemicals and medicine. The VND400 billion science park will attract billions of investment dollars, he added.

Last year, SaigonTel and its partner, Singapore’s TA Associates International Pte.Ltd., a member of Taiwan’s Teco Group, started work on a US$1.2-billion software park in Thu Thiem new urban area. SaigonTel contributed 20% of the capital.

Tam said SaigonTel and its partner are also working on the project’s first phase on nearly 16 hectares along the East-West Highway in the new town, which is opposite the city’s commercial district.

The park will have a training center, commercial retail space and business facilities. The investors will develop seven 20-story buildings with a combined floor space of 650,000 square meters.

The project will be partially commissioned by the start of 2013 and will offer 40,000 jobs in the construction process and another 70,000 for software specialists and information technology engineers thereafter.

SaigonTel and local Vinatex will develop a US$40 million 25-story building named Vinatex –SaigonTel at 300AB Nguyen Tat Thanh Street in HCMC’s District 4. The project, which is 52% owned by SaigonTel, will include apartments and offices.

SaigonTel is the owner of the 500 hectare ICT Kinh Bac Park and is attracting hi-tech projects. It is also the investor of two ICT SaigonTel buildings in Quang Trung Software City in HCMC’s District 12.

SaigonTel this year targets VND650 billion in revenue and VND68 billion in after-tax profit and will pay 2009 dividends at 10%. Last year, SaigonTel obtained over VND861 billion in revenue and over VND73 billion in after-tax profit.