The Sun Avenue residential project in District 2, HCM City (Photo: VNA)HCMCity (VNA) – Experts have said that the government should acknowledgethe significant role developers play in the real estate market and in cityplanning.
DrHuynh The Du of Fulbright University Vietnam, speaking at a recent workshop onthe role of developers in Ho Chi Minh City’s real estate market development programme,said the government has a limited role to play in setting the scene anddevelopers should be the ones to lead the market as they know what projectsneed to be built and where.
Onedeveloper said the city’s urban planning is not done in an effective way at themoment. Even the person who approves [housing] projects does not really have aclear idea of what they are doing.
Yetto some extent developers have to rely on the master plan, she added.
Dusaid the government has the role of regulating the market.
ProfRichard Peiser from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University in theUS agreed that developers have a big role to play.
Oftencity leaders think they are the ones that lead the market and can set thecontext and the playing field, but developers are the ones who take the risk andsomeone has to take the risk, he said.
Developersare the key because they are the ones who tidy up the land, bring the capitaland have the responsibility of having the project built, he said, adding that theyare at the centre of making it happen.
Buthe also said one of the key ingredients for a vibrant and competitive realestate market is proper regulation by the government.
Topromote the development of the real estate market, the government should alsotry not to limit the participation of FDI investors since they bring capital,promote competition and improve design standards in the market, he said.
Askedhow local developers can compete with international players who are from moredeveloped markets if the government opens the doors wide to FDI investors, hesaid: “Real estate is a very local business and local developers always havebetter information and certain natural advantages.”
Maybein big projects local developers would be somewhat at a disadvantage, so it isappropriate that the Government requires a certain amount of legislation tobetter monitor the market, he said.
Someprotection is good but in general it should not keep out foreign investors, headded.
Lastyear foreign investment in real estate amounted to 8.5 percent of the city’stotal FDI of 3.05 billion USD.-VNA
VNA
