Phu My Hung, Vietnam's Biggest New Town, Faces a Legal Crisis
Phu My Hung exceeded approved land use by 400 hectares. Its international school also broke building codes.
[Phu My Hung, Vietnam's Biggest New Town, Faces a Legal Crisis]
Phu My Hung is not just one of Vietnam's earliest foreign-invested projects — it is the country's largest planned township. In Vietnamese land-law courses, it is literally the first case study professors teach. But a long history does not guarantee smooth sailing. Recently, Phu My Hung has found itself under a national spotlight.
▍ 400 Hectares Over the Line
Multiple Vietnamese media outlets have reported that Phu My Hung exceeded its government-approved land use by 400 hectares — an area the size of roughly 300 baseball fields.
Beyond the excess development, Phu My Hung's South Saigon International School was also found to have violated its land-use permit and construction standards. The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee is paying close attention. How Phu My Hung negotiates with the government going forward is worth watching for investors.
▍ The Challenges of Foreign-Invested Townships
This is not an isolated case. South Korea's Daewoo Group ran a township project in Da Nang that was transferred to a Vietnamese developer in 2016 after financial and legal problems. These cases show that foreign-invested urban development in Vietnam is no simple undertaking.
As Vietnam's oldest and largest township project, Phu My Hung has weathered storms before. Whether it can resolve this latest legal crisis will be another chapter in its long history.
