HÀ NỘI — A South Korean firm has agreed to build a US$420 million horse racetrack in Sóc Sơn District, Hà Nội, chairman of Hà Nội People’s Committee Nguyễn Đức Chung has announced.

Chung said the Global Consultant Network facility will cover a 100ha area and is part of the city’s planning for a multifunctional complex including a park, tourism and entertainment centres and other facilities.

“The city has submitted the project to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for approval,” said Chung.

The project is expected to create jobs for about 1,000 direct labourers and tens of thousands of indirect ones and contribute up to VNĐ1.5 trillion ($64 million) to the local budget each year.

If the plan is approved, construction will begin next year.

The project was first put on the table in 1999. It was initially planned to be built in Đại Kim Ward of Hoàng Mai District and Thanh Liệt Commune of Thanh Trì District. However, as the legal framework for sports betting and horse racing hadn’t been completed yet, the foreign partner withdrew from this project in 2005.

In 2007, the Hanoitourist Corporation and South Korea’s Global Consultant Network proposed the project again.

In August 2016, they inked a joint venture contract to invest in the project.

The Vietnamese Government issued a decree on doing business in horse and dog racing betting and piloting the international football betting in 2017. Earlier this year, the National Assembly approved a law amending and supplementing some articles of the Law on Physical Training and Sports that includes an article on sports betting.

With these moves, the legal framework for sports betting has been upgraded from the decree level to law level. — VNS