New contractor selected for HCMC’s $33M exhibition center

202 Group JSC has been awarded the contract worth VND110.6 billion, VND4 billion less than the initial estimate.

The deadline for completion is 175 days.

The work includes the production and installation of glass walls, facades, supporting frames, partitions, railings, and ceilings for the center coming up along the Saigon River.

Upon completion, the contractor will begin to work on the interiors and install equipment, and the venue is expected to be ready for use within next year.

Work on the facility across the river from District 1 started in 2013 and was supposed to be completed within two years.

It was heralded as an icon of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in the heart of HCMC’s city within a city.

But since 2019, when around 80% of the construction was complete, work stalled.

Construction was suspended due to a disagreement between the contractor and the project manager, the Ho Chi Minh City Management Board of Industrial and Civil Engineering Construction and Investment Projects.

The main reason was that the previous contractor submitted material samples that did not meet the requirements, but the technical specifications of the material manufacturer did not match the project’s design either.

It had been managed by the Department of Planning’s Construction Management Board of the Planning Exhibition Center.

When the work dragged on, it was transferred to the Management Board of Industrial and Civil Engineering Construction and Investment Projects, which operates directly under the HCMC People’s Committee, in February 2022.

In March this year the contractor was sacked and the new management board sought to select a new contractor.

Being built on an area of 18,000 sq.m, the center will be a venue for exhibitions and conventions.