Sumitomo-BRG joint venture plans Vietnam’s first smart city

By Dat Nguyen October 7, 2019 | 12:45 am PT

An artist's impression of a smart city to be located in Dong Anh District, Hanoi. Photo courtesy of Dong Anh District authorities.

Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp and Vietnamese real estate developer BRG Group will jointly build a $4.2 billion smart city in Hanoi.

The joint venture partners said Sunday that the smart city will span 272 hectares in the northern district of Dong Anh, located halfway between Noi Bai International Airport and the city center.

Project construction is set to start next year with 7,000 apartments and houses. When complete, the smart city will adopt 5G, face recognition, blockchain and other advanced technologies.

The project will consist of five phases. In the first phase, the joint venture will build a residential area that up to 25,000 people can occupy in 2022.

Office buildings and commercial facilities will be constructed in the second phase. All five phases are set to be finished in 2028.

The city will tap into a metro line planned between downtown Hanoi and the Noi Bai airport.

Sumitomo operates three industrial parks in the northern Vietnam which host about 190 companies, most of which are Japanese.

BRG is a major operator of golf courses and hotels in Vietnam. It is also involved in the finance and retail sectors.