Singapore's Banyan Tree to build $900 million Hue resort

Singaporean luxury resort developer Banyan Tree said Saturday it will build a large resort near the historical town of Hue at an estimated cost of US$900 million.
When fully developed, the 280- hectare beachfront resort will comprise seven hotels with a total of 2,000 rooms, a golf course, residences and convention facilities.
The resort is about one hour's drive from Hue, an ancient imperial capital in central Vietnam and a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) heritage site.
The first phase of the project, comprising two hotels, the golf course and residences, is expected to open in 2012 and will cost around $200 million, the Singaporean firm said in a statement.
It added that the development would be funded by the $283 million Banyan Tree Indochina Hospitality Fund, which was set up last year. The fund was successfully closed in June this year.
Banyan Tree manages or owns 26 hotels and resorts in Asia, most of them under the Banyan Tree and Angsana brandnames.
The firm has been expanding aggressively in recent years and is in the process of opening resorts in Bali, Indonesia; Hangzhou, China; Acapulco, Mexico; and Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.