The building of the 79-storey Oil and Gas Tower, Hanoi’s highest building, will not use any capital from the State budget, affirmed its investor, the PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Company (PVX).

PVX General Director Vu Duc Thuan made the affirmation at a press briefing in Hanoi on Mar. 27, denying rumours that the project will be partly funded by capital from the State budget and the National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), which holds a 40 percent stake in PVX.

According to Thuan, the building will have only 79 storeys instead of the initially-planned 102 storeys and as a result, the estimated cost will drop from over 1 billion USD to 600 million USD.

Thuan said that after the project’s feasibility study is approved, PVX will set up the Oil and Gas Tower Joint Stock Company to arrange capital and carry out the project.

Capital for the project is expected to be sourced by PVX and domestic and foreign partners.

PVX will joint with Hansin firm of the Republic of Korea and Samsung C&T, which have good experiences in construction of buildings of over 70 storeys.

The project’s final design will be announced on Mar. 30 after an international contest.

The Oil and Gas Tower will be built on a 6.5 ha area in Me Tri commune, Tu Liem district of Hanoi. It will be built with modern and environmentally- friendly technology and can stand earthquakes of up to 6 on Richter scale./.