The occasional water buffalo still wanders across the vacant plots of Thu Thiem, an area of Vietnam’s most populous city long promised redevelopment that is now poised for transformation on a grand, possibly Trumpian, scale.Set along the Saigon River, with the glassy skyline of downtown Ho Chi Minh City rising just 3km (1.9 miles) away, Thu Thiem could soon be home to a new Trump Tower after the US president’s middle son Eric, executive vice-president of the family’s real estate empire, scouted out the site last month.
No official approval has yet been announced, but Reuters puts the projected investment in the high-rise at US$1 billion, with hopes that Vietnam’s famously tangled bureaucracy will, for once, fail to be an obstacle. Should all go according to plan, construction on the 60-storey tower could begin as early as next year.
Yet the Trump family’s ambitions in Vietnam stretch far beyond Thu Thiem.
Eric Trump’s itinerary also included breaking ground on a US$1.5 billion 18-hole golf course, resort and residential complex in northern Hung Yen – the home province of Communist Party chief To Lam.
Eric Trump speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Trump International Hung Yen golf project in Vietnam on May 21. Photo: VNA via AP
While in Vietnam, the Trump scion also met local officials in Ho Chi Minh City.
