Vietnam News Network

Sky D. Kim, general director of Sky Expo Vietnam, told the Daily on Monday the sprawling exhibition center named Saigon Sky Expo Center would cost some US$44.6 million, and first-phase construction will be completed late this year.

The center will cover nearly 40,000 square meters in the premises of Quang Trung Software City in the city’s District 12, and when fully commissioned, it will supply over 12,000 square meters of indoor exhibition space and 4,000 square meters of outdoor exhibition space. The center will also have a conference center of over 2,800 square meters, and other facilities such as a food and beverage center, a golf driving range, an entertainment area, a fitness center and a hotel.

The first phase of the project will be put into operation late this year, becoming the third international convention center in the city after the HCMC International Exhibition and Convention Center in Tan Binh District and Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in District 7.

Kim stressed that the new center would provide a venue of entertainment for the city’s people besides the exhibition business.

“We will have an entertainment area at the park for some 8,000 people on weekends in addition to the convention center,” he said.

The main focuses of the company are important international exhibitions, many of them from events involving ICT. Initially, in its first year of operation projected in 2011, the center is expected to host 35 exhibitions, 80% of which will be international events.

Mentioning the project’s second phase, Kim said that in late 2011 the company would start work on a hotel and expand the functional facilities following its initial commitments.

Kim said he expected the new center in the next ten years will become a leading convention center in Vietnam and in the region.