The Ascott Group has secured a contract to manage a serviced residence property in Vietnam’s third largest city, Hai Phong. It clinched the contract through Thuy Duong Investment Joint Stock Company, an established real estate company with developments across Vietnam’s major cities. To be called Somerset Central TD, this will be Ascott’s first serviced residence property in the coastal city of Hai Phong and its seventh in Vietnam. It is slated to open in the second half of next year and will offer 132 units ranging from studio to three-bedroom apartments. The new property brings Ascott’s portfolio in Vietnam to 1,182 units across three cities - Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and now Hai Phong. Ascott is the serviced residence arm of property developer CapitaLand.

Delays in site clearance compensation have stalled a USD 9.8 billion steel project in the central Ninh Thuan Province that was scheduled to open by 2010. The Ca Na Project, located in Phuoc Diem Commune, is financed by the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and Lion Group of Malaysia. The facility is to have two steel mills with an output of 4.5 million tonnes per year, two thermo electricity stations with a combined capacity of 1,450 MW, a seaport and other factories for steel production. The project covers an area of over 1,000 hectares, including the province’s Ca Na salt field and onshore fishing area. Around 500 households in the commune have given up their land for the project. However, compensation for land clearance has been delayed with only half of VND 148 billion handed out to local residents. The families have not been able to start new businesses or turn to traditional salt production or fishing to earn a living.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has agreed in principle to allow Trai Thien Joint Stock Co. to provide air cargo transport services, the government said Wednesday. The prime minister has assigned the Ministry of Transport to issue a license to Trai Thien to provide the services, the government said in a statement. Trai Thien will be Vietnam’s first private company licensed to provide only air cargo transport services, it said. State media said Wednesday Trai Thien, which has registered capital of VND500 billion (USD 28 million), will provide services on East Asian routes.

Foreign investors were net sellers of VND155.5 billion (USD 8.7 million) of Vietnamese stocks Tuesday out of a total VND4.35 trillion traded, the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange said. Volume traded totaled 85 million shares, with foreigners accounting for 6.7% of that volume, the stock market operator said. Foreign investors have been net sellers for 17 straight sessions. In the month to date, they have been net sellers of VND2.17 trillion of Vietnamese stocks.

Officials from several agencies of the member countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) are gathering in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to discuss the development of energy in the sub region. On Sept. 29, the first day of the conference, the participants focused their attention on each member country’s energy policy and a case study on energy trading in the context of an expanding GMS market. They are scheduled to discuss developing human resources, marketing, e-governance and the development of a business network. Also on the agenda will be talks on promoting cooperation in energy, transport, telecommunications, tourism and the environment. Vietnam sent a top level delegation to the conference, including officials from the Vietnam Electricity Group, the Ministry of Industry and Trades Energy, Oil and Gas Department, plus representatives from the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Groups electricity development projects and PetroVietnam’s Centre for Research and Development.

In recent days, the export price of rubber has increased constantly from USD1,900 to USD2,050 per ton, the highest price recorded since early this year. According to the Vietnam Rubber Association (VRA), at the current prices the rubber sector is expected to net USD1-1.1 billion from exports. The latest statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade show that over the past 9 months Vietnam has exported 491,000 tons of rubber, earning more than USD743 million.

The VRA said that the hike in rubber prices is due to the recovery of the world economy and increasing demand from China, the US, Japan and Europe. It forecast that the world demand for rubber in the last few months of year will continue to rise and stay at a high price. The last months of the year will also provide businesses with the chance to boost exports and fulfill their set targets. However, businesses should only increase exports if the prices are favorable in order to avoid a surplus of supplies, the VRA warned.