Construction ministry gives opinion on transfer of part of multi-billion dollar super-project  10:49   The Hanoi Construction Department has sent a dispatch to the Ministry of Construction (MOC), asking for guidance on procedures that parties have to follow to transfer a part of the Ciputra urban area project.   In reply, MOC said that, regarding transfer of whole or part of a real estate project, before the 2020 Investment Law took effect, involved parties had to comply with the Article 50 of the 2014 Law on Real Estate Business. The article says for real estate projects whose investment is decided by provincial authorities, the people’s committees of cities and provinces make decisions on transfer of whole or part of the projects. Meanwhile, the PM makes decisions on allowing transfer of whole or part of real estate projects whose investment is decided by the PM. Since the 2020 Investment Law took effect, the issue of transferring projects has been addressed by the Article 75 of the 2020 Investment Law with amendment and supplement to the Article 50 of the 2014 Law on Real Estate Business. In some cases, the dossiers on the transfer of whole or part of real estate projects were submitted in accordance with the 2014 Law on Real Estate Business, before the effective date of the 2020 Investment Law, and the deals have not been completely wrapped up. The way of handling the cases, according to MOC, is mentioned in the Article 115 of the Government’s Decree 31 which guides the implementation of some articles of the Investment Law. If investors had submitted dossiers for the transfer procedures in accordance with the laws on real estate business prior to January 1 and follow the transfer procedures stipulated in Investment Law, they can choose either to continue to apply the procedures in accordance with the real estate business law or the investment law. MOC has asked the Hanoi Construction Department to compare the specific case with the regulations to strictly comply with the laws. “The Hanoi Construction Department has sent a dispatch to the Ministry of Construction (MOC), asking for guidance on procedures that parties have to follow to transfer a part of the Ciputra urban area project”. Ciputra, or Nam Thang Long urban area, is developed by Nam Thang Long Urban Area Development Co Ltd, a joint venture between UDIC and Ciputra Group. It is the first large urban area in Hanoi meeting international standards, designed in accordance with the master development plan of the capital city, covering an area of 300 hectares and capitalized at $2.1 billion. Prior to that, a problem arose related to the investor’s attempt to adjust the planning for the second phase of the project. This faced opposition from residents in the urban area. The PM then asked ministries and branches to clarify the planning adjustment. In September 2020, the Government Office released a report after checking foreign invested projects capitalized at over VND5 trillion. The report said the Hanoi People’s Committee asked the PM to allow the investors of six real estate projects capitalized at hundreds of millions of dollars to billions of dollars to adjust and transfer a part of their projects. The developer of Nam Thang Long Urban Area project asked for permission to transfer three component projects which inherit the conditions on non-reimbursable transfer. The Hanoi authorities also asked for permission to transfer three component projects at Tay Ho Tay (Western West Lake) registered by THT Development Co Ltd. As for the projects developed Gamuda Land Vietnam, the investor wanted to adjust the Yen So Park project by splitting the project, adjusting the project in accordance with the adjusted planning and transfer one component project in C2 urban area of Yen So Park. Meanwhile, Blemheim Group asked for permission to adjust the green technology city project, as the project was still under the site clearance process. Lotte Properties Hanoi, the developer of Lotte Mall Hanoi, wanted to adjust the scale and the operation duration of the project to 50 years since the day of land allocation. Another super-project is the smart city project developed by North Hanoi Smart CityDevelopment JSC, an enterprise established with capital contributed by BRG and Sumitomo.  VNN