An aerial view of Daewoo E&C's villas in Star Lake City New City of Ha Noi, Viet Nam. — Photo businesskorea.co.kr

SEOUL — Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. announced that it would proceed with the official contracts for 182 households of the first high-end villa project in the "Star Lake" New City in Ha Noi from July 4.

According to website businesskorea.co.kr, the project is meaningful in that Daewoo E&C has become the nation's first private firm which first proposed the project to the Vietnamese government, unlike previous government-led development projects, and it is the first export of Korean-style developer projects.

The Starlake City project involves building a 1.86 million-square-meter new residential city in the West Lake area 5 kilometers northwest from Ha Noi City Hall. Viet Nam's THT Development Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Daewoo E&C, has led the mega new city development project.

The total cost of the project is about US$2.2 billion and the first-stage construction alone costs $1.2 billion. Daewoo E&C will begin the first parceling sale of 182 four-story houses in the H7-10 block located on the southwest side of the new city.

The sales prices range from US$720,000 to US$2.35 million. Buyers should make a 20 per cent down payment and will be able to move into their new houses in July 2017.

Daewoo E&C plans to start the second parceling sale of 182 houses within this year, and the third and fourth sale of villas and 600 apartments next year.

An official from Daewoo E&C said, "As Vietnamese lawmakers have approved the revised Law on Housing in July last year, allowing foreign investment and ownership of houses or apartments, foreign consumers are increasingly making inquiries. Local real estate developers and Korea's institutional investors have been inquiring about it." — VNS