Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. and Nomura Real Estate Development will join hands with Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup on a smart urban development project in Ho Chi Minh City, according to Nihon Keizai daily business newspaper.

Ho Chi Minh City's urban development project that Mitsubishi and Nomura
intend to make into a smart city (Source: asia.nikkei.com)

The Japanese companies will invest nearly 100 billion yen (908 million USD) in the project.

Vingroup’s commercial real estate developer Vinhomes is carrying out a massive residential area project in HCM City and the project is expected to be completed in 2023. It will be equipped with nearly 50,000 residences as well as schools, hospitals and commercial centres.

For the urban development project, Mitsubishi and Nomura Real Estate are partnering with Vinhomes to construct 21 apartment buildings. The project is expected to add approximately 10,000 homes to the city. The two Japanese firms will each invest 40 percent and Vinhomes the remaining 20 percent in the subdivision.

Mitsubishi and Nomura intend to move out in front of the competition as Asia rushes toward smart cities. The companies will propose a facial recognition system to monitor those entering the area, autonomous buses and other technologies.

According to the United Nations, 61 percent of Asia’s population is expected to be concentrated in urban areas in 2040, surging from 47 percent in 2015.