HCM City (VNS/VNA) - With Vietnam set for rapid urbanisation,sustainable development is an urgent task for the property sector, a seminarheard in HCM City on July 19.

Speaking at “Green Development Strategy for Real Estate”, Tran Ngoc Chinh,chairman of the Vietnam Urban Development and Planning Association, said: “Realestate projects are always facing the challenge of balancing urban developmentand preservation of natural resources and cultural aspects.”

He admitted that urbanisation in HCM City and Hanoi has not maintained thisbalance and now have to pay the price for their unsustainable development.

“Severe traffic congestion and flooding are the consequences.”

Several famous tourism destinations like Sapa, Da Lat and Ha Long have alsolost their unique character to urbanisation, he said.

“Every year, cities and towns all around the country receive 1.25 millionpeople coming to work and live. Vietnam has an urbanisation rate of 38 percentand the figure will soon be 50 percent.

“Real estate development is now a problem since it lacks humanity (too manypeople in high-rise buildings with little green space) and linkages with othersocial infrastructure like schools, hospitals, electricity, water supply, wastetreatment and public space.”

Vietnam must move towards smart cities, where everything is connected with eachother and energy efficiency is mandatory, he said.

Pannir Chelvam, senior director of Keppel Land Vietnam, who used to work forthe Singaporean urban planning authority, spoke about green real estate developmentin Singapore.

“Green experts work very closely with relevant authorities and involvedpartners, including investors, from the beginning of the project in allaspects: planning, design, construction, project development, public space.”

The Singaporean Urban Redevelopment Authority has the right and takes allresponsibility for planning and real estate developers must follow allregulations related to use of raw materials and natural resources and must getgreen certification.

“Environmental impact assessment and biological impact assessment forconstruction must be submitted and examined by relevant authorities.”

Real estate developers must ensure harmony between all natural factors and takeadvantage of natural conditions for wind and lighting.
“Independent consultancies work closely with developers while relevantauthorities supervise them.”

In Singapore, renewable energy is encouraged and developers can get incentivesand tax breaks, he said.

“Seventy per cent of the lighting must be by natural sunshine, water supply andtreatment must be properly managed.

“Waste treatment also gets high priority and residents are carefully taught howto treat their waste.”

Developers must make up any green area that they use for construction, headded.

Do Huu Nhat Quang, founder and CEO of GreenViet, said Vietnam has only 150certified green buildings, a tiny proportion in comparison with neighbouringcountries.

“High costs, no demand from customers and no incentives from the Government arethe reasons for this situation.”
It would take developers to change this as they become aware of the benefits ofgreen development.

“Green construction is a global trend. Developers can get high-class customersfor green buildings.”

Pham Lam, founder and CEO of DKRA Vietnam, said: “Customers’ awareness of greendevelopment is improving. They have begun to pay more attention to green spacesand how the buildings are operated.”-VNS/VNA