Swiss venture plans Vietnam's first theme park
HANOI - Riding a wave of prosperity in youthful Vietnam, a Swiss group said on Wednesday it plans to invest $200 million in the communist country's first theme park.
SaigoMax will open the 47-hectare (116-acre) education, entertainment and adventure park in the southern city of Ho Chi Minh at the end of 2004. Construction will start next year.
Attractions will include amusement rides, a water park and river rafting, an interactive science and technology exhibition and a multiplex digital cinema with a concert stage.
"We have chosen to invest in Vietnam as its young and growing population and rapidly increasing income levels create an untapped consumer market," chairman Walt Beglinger said in a statement.
Vietnam has one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia. Half its 80 million people are under 30 years old, and average per capita income is about $400 a year.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said the economy would expand by 7.0-7.5 percent next year after growing by 7.0 this year. Growth is fuelled by exports to the United States and booming consumption as private business is unshackled from government control.
Demand for mobile phones and expensive foreign-made motorcycles is booming.
Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, has about seven million residents and is the largest city in the southeast Asian country.
SaigoMax is a venture involving unlisted Zurich-based project finance and development firm IMA, Heinrich Mack GmbH, Europa Park, Knipp Holdings, Leighton Asia, the San Francisco Exploratorium and Leitner AG.
Its financial adviser on the project is Credit Suisse First Boston.
Reuters - November 13, 2002
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