VNBusinessNews.com - Berjaya - D2D Co. Ltd., a unit of Berjaya Land Berhad, on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. hotel management company Marriott Inc. to manage a five-star hotel in the country’s south.

The 22-story hotel with 263 rooms is part of the broader Bien Hoa City Square project worth US$150 million which Berjaya - D2D is developing in Dong Nai Province.

This hotel will be the first international lodging brand name in Dong Nai, providing quality hospitality and convention space for the province, when it is operational in 2012.

Work on the Bien Hoa City Square covering nearly 2.6 hectares on Vo Thi Sau Street in the province’s Bien Hoa City started in September last year.

This project also comprises a 20-floor office building, a 20-floor high-end apartment building with 448 units and a three-story shopping center.

Berjaya - D2D is a venture between of Malaysia’s Berjaya Land Berhad through its subsidiary Berjaya Leisure Cayman, and Vietnam’s Industrial Urban Development Company 2 (D2D).

Marriott International Inc., one of the leading international hotel management firms, has more than 3,200 lodging properties in the United States and 66 other countries and territories.

In a related development, Berjaya Land Bhd, a subsidiary of Berjaya Corporation Berhad, has said it will begin construction on the US$2-billion Nhon Trach New City project next year.

The project will undergo phased development, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, chairman of Berjaya Corporation Berhad, said at an investment certificate award ceremony in Dong Nai Province on Wednesday.

Around 600 hectares of land in Dong Nai Province, about 25 kilometers from downtown HCMC, will be reserved for this property development project which Tan said was designed to create an integrated first-grade city with an environmentally friendly theme.

It will house a theater, cultural house, square, exhibition centre, museum, administrative quarter, and commercial and social facilities such as offices, hotels, serviced apartments, food and beverage outlets, and entertainment spaces, sports centre, hospital, open green spaces and infrastructure, he said.

One unique feature of the project, he said, will be an exciting central garden space leading to the City Hall which will be the landmark of Nhon Trach New City.

In mid-October this year, Berjaya - D2D launched the sale of its first apartment project called Amber Court in Bien Hoa.

“I’m pleased to announce that we have successfully sold off 100% of the units. This is a good indication and has reinforced our confidence in Dong Nai Province and in Vietnam as a whole,” he said.

He said that with this success, the joint venture had been motivated to move on so as to launch the second phase of the project comprising 448 units of apartment before the year ends.

Berjaya is the largest single Malaysian company which has invested in Vietnam in a big way. Elsewhere in the country, Berjaya has received investment certificates for some real estate projects, including a US$3.5-billion international university township and the US$930 million Vietnam Financial Center covering 6.8 hectares, both in HCMC.

In Hanoi, Berjaya Land is developing a residential and commercial project called Thach Ban New City on 31.3 hectares in Long Bien District at an estimated cost of US$500 million. It is also developing Long Beach resort on Phu Quoc Island.