On the afternoon of September 18, information from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance said that on August 20, 2025, the Department of Finance received document No. LPHCMC-BD-2025-038 from Lotte Properties HCMC Company Limited. Accordingly, the company has terminated the contract to implement the Smart Complex project (Thu Thiem Eco Smart City) in the 2A functional area, Thu Thiem New Urban Area.
The Thu Thiem Eco Smart City Smart City Smart Complex project is invested by Lotte Properties HCMC Company Limited under Lotte Group (Korea). The project has a total investment of VND 20,100 billion, built on a land area of 74,513 m2, of which the project development area is about 50,000 m2. Regarding land use structure, in 7.4 hectares, there are 1.4 hectares of residential land; 2.6 hectares of commercial and service land for lease; and 2.45 hectares of traffic land without land use fees.
According to the plan, the project consists of 11 towers with 5-50 floors, arranged into commercial, service and luxury apartments. The project is located in the most prime location in Thu Thiem. After the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued a decision on land allocation and land lease, in early September 2022, Lotte Properties HCMC held a groundbreaking ceremony.
However, due to legal problems, the project has not been able to start construction. After 8 years since signing the investment contract and 3 years since the groundbreaking ceremony, the Thu Thiem Eco Smart City project still does not have a clear shape.
Reporting on the implementation of work in the first 6 months of 2025, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City said that the total revenue from land in the area is estimated at 65,320 billion VND. Of which, VND12,720 billion has been implemented, and VND52,600 billion is the expected revenue from 9 real estate projects with specific land prices approved.
One of the 9 projects that have been approved for specific land prices is Thu Thiem Smart Complex (commercial name Lotte Eco Smart City) invested by Lotte Properties HCMC Company Limited (under Lotte Group, Korea). The land use fee of this project is VND 16,190 billion.
With this project, Ho Chi Minh City leaders have held meetings to remove obstacles to promote progress, in which the important step is determining financial obligations for land. After completing financial obligations, the investor will be granted a certificate and ensure land legality before carrying out the next procedures related to project construction licensing.
During the implementation process, Lotte Properties HCMC has proposed to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee many issues such as: adjusting the total investment to 57,000 billion VND; changing the composition and capital contribution ratio between Lotte Group's subsidiaries in the consortium; extending progress and removing legal obstacles.
At the end of June 2025, Lotte Properties HCMC had a working session with the leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on the above recommendations. However, the results of the meeting have not been announced.
After receiving the investor's document stating the termination of the project implementation contract, the Department of Finance said that according to the provisions of the law on investment, in case the investor decides to terminate the investment project's operations according to the provisions of Point A, Clause 1, Article 48 of the Law on Investment 2020, the investor will carry out the procedures to terminate the investment project's operations according to the provisions of Article 57 of Decree 31/2021/ND-CP dated March 26, 2021 of the Government on detailed regulations and instructions for implementing a number of articles of the Law on Investment.
However, up to now, the Department of Finance has not received the dossier of Lotte Properties HCMC Company Limited according to the above regulations. Thus, in principle, Lotte Properties HCMC Company Limited is still the investor implementing the Thu Thiem Eco Smart City project.
