Vietnam's HCM City to ask for hosting rights to SEA Games

HO CHI MINH CITY, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City will propose that the government allow it to host the 31st SEA Games, Southeast Asia's biggest sport tournament, in 2021, the municipal authorities announced on Thursday.

According to a scheme drafted by Ho Chi Minh City, 945 billion Vietnamese dong (41.8 million U.S. dollars) will be spent on organizational work, and some 9 trillion Vietnamese dong (398.2 million U.S. dollars) on building and upgrading facilities to serve the biennial multi-sport event involving participants from 11 Southeast Asian countries.

Many Vietnamese and foreign enterprises have expressed their interest in investing in building sport facilities in Ho Chi Minh City, the municipal authorities said, noting that an investor is willing to build a 50,000-seat stadium at a cost of 3.45 trillion Vietnamese dong (152.6 million U.S. dollars).

Other firms are willing to spend large amounts of money upgrading or building other sports facilities, including Phan Dinh Phung Sports Center and Rach Chiec Sport Complex.

Vietnam hosted the SEA Games for the first time in 2003 in Hanoi, the capital city.

At the 29th SEA Games in 2017 in Malaysia, Vietnam ranked fourth with 169 medals, including 58 golds, 50 silvers and 61 bronzes, after Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. Enditem