After over two decades of deliberation, construction is set to begin on District 2’s Rach Chiec Sport Complex in 2017.
The long-awaited project, which boasts VND34 trillion in investment capital, has been in the works since 1994, reports Saigon Giai Phong. Over the years, its scope and size has shrunk from an ambitious 466-hectare project – complete with a 50,000-seat football stadium and track, sports stadium, swimming pool and theme park – to a 180 hectares for a sports facility which is expected to include facilities for futsal, basketball and volleyball as well as housing for athletes and coaches.
Once complete, Rach Chiec will facilitate cultural and sporting events in the city in addition to allowing Saigon to host larger regional and international sporting events. Last year, after decades in limbo, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee gave investors a 2020 deadline for the project, according to Tuoi Tre. At the time, a kilometer-long road leading from the Hanoi Highway was the only component of Rach Chiec which had been built.
As such, things have moved ahead. In September, the HCMC People’s Committee approved Thai Son Nam Sports JSC as an investor in the project along with the project’s main investor, Nikken Sekkei. Now, the southern hub’s Departments of Culture and Sport, Architecture and Planning, and Finance are working with Nikken Sekkei to finalize the necessary paperwork for the project, which will be submitted to city officials in June 2017.
[Photo via Tuoi Tre]
