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In the mountains of central Vietnam, a colossal pair of hands lifts a golden thread of walkway high above the clifftops, as if the mountain itself has sprouted limbs.

The breathtaking Golden Bridge simply looks too impressive and otherworldly to be real. Perched 1400 metres above sea level in the Ba Na hills, the gold-coloured walkway appears to be held up with two “giant hands”.

The 150-metre long walkway opened to the public in June. Designed by TA Landscape Architecture, it’s part of a $2 billion investment to lure more tourists.
“We designed the skeleton of the hands and covered them with steel meshes,” a company spokesman told Bored Panda.

“Then we finished with fibreglass and added the theming on it. The entire construction of the bridge took about a year.”

“It creates a walkway in the sky, among the foggy and fairy-like lands of Ba Na mountain,” said Anh, who added that he had been surprised at the level of attention his firm’s design had attracted both locally and internationally.

Many called the structure “amazing”, “stunning” and a “work of art”. Others likened it to something straight out of Lord of the Rings.

“The most awe-inspiring sculpture you’ve ever seen,” one Twitter user said.

The Ba Na Hills, a popular getaway for the French during the colonial occupation of Vietnam, received over 2.7 million visitors last year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

But it is the Golden Bridge and its supports – two huge stone-colored human hands styled in such a way that it looks as if the jungle is struggling to reclaim them – which have garnered the most attention from visitors.

Source: Globalnews.ca , news.com.au

River Saigon, passing through the city of Ho Chi Minh City, has a new addition to its skyline: Landmark 81. Crafted by British architect Atkins and local Vietnamese developer, Vingroup, Landmark 81 symbolizes the economic and construction boom in the city and places Vietnam into the global spotlight. The continuous urban development and renewal symbolizes the oncoming leading economic status of Vietnam across the globe.

Landmark 81’s grand opening has already attracted thousands of visitors. Designed to host hotels, luxury accommodation, observation deck, retail and entertainment facilities, the complex will be a modern paradise of shopping, displaying the most prestigious fashion brands across the world. Foreign brands have envisioned Vietnam as a market for luxury retail as the country’s middle class rises activating a professional local work force. The Boston Consulting Group predicted a 300% middle-income group growth from 2012’s 12 million to 2020’s 33 million. By 2020, Vietnam’s average per capita income will rise from US$1,400 to US$3,400 a year. The shift in money making, spending perspective and willingness to spend big will accelerate the demand for high quality products.

Last year, Knight Frank reported that Vietnam’s wealth growth grew by 320% from 2006 to 2016 and will grow at an another alarming 170% in the next decade. Not only in Landmark 81, but shopping plazas across the country are now decked with fashion  brands like Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci and super-car brands like Porsche and Ferrari. With an economy rising at a high 7- 8% per annum measured by GDP, Vietnam now leads, as the world’s fastest growing nation, which will spark a new age of retail businesses to benefit from this changing dynamicity in the nation’s wealth growth.

The skyscraper, at 81 floors high, will be Southeast Asia’s tallest building, Asia’s 8^th tallest and the world’s 14^th tallest. Inspired by a bamboo cluster to symbolize the unity and prosperity the country has admitted through in the past decades and decorated with an LED system, the breathtaking performance of Landmark 81 will bring a new level of luxury and modernization to the city to parallel its surging economic trajectory.

Ho Chi Minh City continues its triumph as the world’s fastest growing economy with a GDP growth of 7.1% in the first half of 2018, setting a new record for the past 7 years. With business opportunities arising from the China-US Trade War and ongoing infrastructure initiatives, its property and investment perspective continues for a stronghold. Luxury properties are highly sought after by overseas investors. Golden Emperor Properties held the US-China Trade War Sparks Opportunities in HCMC Property Market Seminar to launch Maeda’s Waterina Suites in the prime location of HCMC’s District 2. The residence and its wide support by investors reflect the attractiveness of the city’s uprising property market.

Above Photo: Mr. Kingston, CEO and Founder of Asia Bankers Club hosts a presentation of the property market trend of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnamese automaker, VinFast will be debuting its production- ready Sedan and SUV at the Paris Motor Show in October. VinFast is part of the Vingroup conglomerate group established last year in September.

Vietnam’s first local automaker has promised to manufacture automobiles and motorcycles with a production rate of 500,000 units per year by 2025, including a 5-passenger sedan and 7-passenger SUV model. Released this month are its first production- ready, yet, unnamed models: VinFast Sedan and VinFast SUV.

VinFast will be heading to Paris in October to unveil its Italian-designed, by Pininfarina, and German – engineered automobiles at the Paris Motor Show to raise its global profile. The debut is a long way until the company’s first production, but the industry is paying close attention to Vinfast’s new-coming on the auto market. Its ready-made models are said to be top notch designs.

VinFast is one of the largest investments in Vietnam in recent years as Vietnam’s first local automaker. Its production-ready models will follows international protocols and safety requirements strictly. Its SUV production will begin production in Q4, 2019 and the new company has plans to promote its models to foreign markets and export its first batch of production worldwide.

After its debut in Paris in October, VinFast has plans to be publicly listed in Vietnam by next September. The goal is to have all Vietnamese families own a car to replace the nation’s excessive use of motorbikes. To achieve its ambitions, VinFast is building a 35 million large product plant in the Hai Phong region.

Vietnam will be signed onto the revived Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, reinforcing its partnership with China who has placed a zero-tax policy on Vietnam’s imports. Moreover, the US imposes a low import tariff policy on Vietnam providing a platform to boost shipments to the US. Despite the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, Vietnam is placed at an advantage and many speculate its possible emergence to become the next manufacturing giant after China as manufacturers relocate their production headquarters to Southeast Asia.

With US imposing heavy tariffs on imports from China, trades between the two have significantly decreased in recent months. Vietnam’s exports to US, Korea and Japan, grows at an alarming rate and is able to compete with the Chinese market where tax duties of its imports are now strictly enforced by the US.

Since the 1980s, Vietnam has relied heavily on its manufacturing sector to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) and manufacturers from the US including renowned automobile brand, Ford, has established factories in the Southeast Asian country besides tech giants like Intel. US remains the largest export market for Vietnam, exporting over 46.64 billion USD worth of goods into US last year.

On the other hand, The Republic of South Korea (ROK) Chamber of Commerce announced that 46.1% of Korea-based corporate will continue to inject large sums of FDI into Vietnam despite the Trade War and 71% are confident and satisfied with the business trend of the Vietnamese market.

Analyses by the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam reported that there are over 6,130 projects funded by ROK-based companies up until June 2017. The projects accounted for 25.9% of the country’s total, accumulating to over 5.45 billion USD, 17.7% of the nation’s total capital injected by foreign firms. ROK has become the second largest of the 120 countries now with investments in Vietnam. ROK has already invested a total to 4.95 billion USD, accounting for 1/4 of nation’s total value up to Q2 this year.

Former minister of Planning and Investment of Vietnam and Chairman of Foreign Investment Association Mr. Ngyuen proposes that ROK’s capital injection remains crucial to the business sector in Vietnam, in one example, major electronic manufacturer, Samsung’s investments sums up to over 14.0 billion USD and provides over 1.4 million jobs across the nation.

In addition, Vietnam benefits as a popular investment destination for Japan in the manufacturing and production sectors. As of September, 2016, Japan has established over 1,500 manufacturing and production projects in Vietnam, valuing over 3.30 billion USD. Japan is now the third largest investor after ROK with over 3,200 projects valued over 42.0 billion USD. Under the China- US trade war, Vietnam will increase its partnership in electronic manufacturing, agriculture, fishery, ship production, automobile production and sustainable development with Japan and ROK.

Source: Tiexue