The HCM City-based Trung Nam Construction Investment JSC (Trung Nam Group) on August 14 signed a design-consultancy contract for the Quan Nam – Thuy Tu Ecological Urban Area with the US-headquartered design firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill LLP (SOM).

Trung Nam Group will invest a total of over 1.6 billion USD in the Quan Nam Thuy Tu Eco-Area project, which is located on 3,421ha of land in central Da Nang City 's Lien Chieu and Hoa Vang districts.

When completed, the eco-town will have trading and service centres, semi-detached and detached villas, upscale apartments, hotels, an international hospital and university, cultural features, sports facilities and recreational areas.

Construction of the project will be undertaken in two stages. The group will invest 154 million USD in the first stage, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011. The second stage will be completed in 2015.

Trung Nam Group has also invested in hydro-power plants Krong No 2 and Krong No 3 and Dong Nai No 2, with a total capacity of 140MW in Central Highland Lam Dong province.

In addition to real estate and hydro-power projects, the group is interested in green energy such as wind power in central Ninh Thuan province./.