a View of Starlake. Photo baomoi.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Although construction work on Starlake, a modern urban development area close to the city's West Lake, officially began one year ago, the project is now stagnating due to slow site clearance.

Municipal authorities said the cause of the delays was weak management capacity and a lack of co-ordination between management agencies and the project's investor.

The city's People's Committee recently reported on the project' progress, saying that the implementation was "too slow."

The Starlake was initially introduced as a mega urban project to stretch over 207 ha, spanning Xuan La Ward in Tay Ho District, Nghia Do Ward in Cau Giay District and Xuan Dinh and Co Nhue communes in Tu Liem District. The project is worth US$2.5 billion funded by Daewoo E&C and the Korean Development Bank.

Nearly one year on from the ground breaking ceremony, the project site is still deserted despite efforts to hasten implementation from the investor and the city's authorities.

According to the project' investor T.H.T Development, as of July, 26 ha of land had not been cleared for the project's first phase implementation.

T.H.T said that it had transferred an amount of $65 million for the city's land fund development centre, finance enough for site clearance compensation.

According to chairman of the city's People's Committee Nguyen The Thao, adjustments to the project's planning had also caused the project to move slowly.

He ordered a clean site to be handed over to the investor imminently and said that any planning adjustments must be submitted to the city for approval within this month.

As of the end of August, more than 91.76 ha out of 117 ha for the project's first phase had been cleared. — VNS