Ascendas sees room to move in Vietnam

Han Ann Foong, country head of Ascendas Services Vietnam, tells Bich Ngoc about the advantages and opportunities the company is:

Designed and constructed as a tech park, which sectors will APSTP target to develop in its project?

APSTP is designed to cater to electronic, precision engineering, food and beverage, pharmaceutical and other general industries.

What are the advantages of APSTP compared to other tech parks in the country?

Ascendas is Asia’s premier provider of business space solutions with a significant presence in the region. Ascendas develops, manages and markets IT parks, industrial parks, business parks, science parks, hi-tech facilities, office and retail space.

Thus, manufacturing plans requiring warehouses and office spaces, we can fulfil them either with ready-built facilities or, as you have highlighted, build-to-suit as well, in addition to land parcels with ready infrastructure for immediate construction.

Among our flagships are the Singapore Science Park, International Tech Park Bangalore, Ascendas Xinsu in Suzhou and Dalian-Ascendas IT Park.

More than 2,000 of the world’s leading companies, many in the Fortune 500 list, have made Ascendas properties their preferred address in Asia.

We use LED street lights in our industrial park, although the cost is much higher than normal lighting. However, they consume less electricity yet provide brighter and better visual effect lighting.

Another highlight of APSTP is our Waste Water Centre Treatment Plan (WWCTP). It is constructed by a trusted partner, UES Holding. Total capacity is 10,000 cubic metres per day, standard input is Class U waste water, whereas in other industrial parks tenants must build their own waste water treatment plan to treat their waste water to Class B before discharging into the park’s common waste water treatment system.

With the same concept we have applied in our other projects across Asia, but new to Vietnam, making APSTP a "space-to-be” (Work-Live-Play-Learn), with worker dormitories, amenities centre, one-stop shop service, training facilities, we believe APSTP will be the new generation of industrial park in Vietnam, contributing to the overall infrastructure development of Vietnam, to help attract more foreign direct investors coming into the country as well as to make Binh Duong a preferred destination for investment in Vietnam.

Which projects has Ascendas been involved in and what experiences could Ascendas apply to the development of APSTP?

Ascendas is also a leading real estate fund management player focused on the management of public-listed property trusts and private real estate funds, investing in a diverse range of industrial and commercial real estate properties across Asia.

Listed on the main board of Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited are Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust ("AREIT”), Singapore’s first business space trust, Ascendas India Trust ("a-iTrust”), Asia’s first Indian property trust and Ascendas Hospitality Trust ("A-HTRUST”), a stapled trust comprising Ascendas Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust ("A-HREIT”) and Ascendas Hospitality Business Trust ("A-HBT”). The Ascendas Group also manages a range of private real estate funds which invest in business space in India, China, South Korea and ASEAN.

All the funds are supported by Ascendas’ strong fund management and real estate expertise, and are testament to its commitment to each of its markets.

In 1996, Ascendas joined with other Singapore consortiums to invest in VSIP. To date, Ascendas is still a shareholder in VSIP.

Seeing the potential of Vietnam in the long run, in 2008 Ascendas Group decided to team up with Protrade, a prominent state-own company in Binh Duong, to create and develop Ascendas-Protrade Singapore Tech Park.

What is the current status of the project and its development strategy in the coming time?

Out of the 500ha, the first two phases comprising of 150ha have been completed with full infrastructure now. We have signed contract with three investors, two from Singapore and one Japanese company, and we are talking to some other prospects.