VZCZCXRO9225
PP RUEHHM
DE RUEHHM #1269 3600548
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 260548Z DEC 07
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3486
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 2383
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 3705

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 001269 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
OBO/OM/AM/NEA FOR LARRY BLACKBURN 
OBO/REPM/AQD FOR KEITH WILKIE AND KATIE TROUTMAN 
EAP/EX FOR DAVID LAMONTAGNE 
RM/CFO FOR JOHN COYLE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ABLD AMGT
SUBJECT: HCMC PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PROPOSAL 
 
REF: (A) STATE 168622, (B) FAIRFAX/COYLE EMAIL OF 12/11/2007, (C) STATE 163873, (D) FAIRFAX/TROUTMAN EMAIL OF 11/24/2007 
 
¶1.  (U) Post would like to take this opportunity to thank OBO 
for its response to post's Public Private Partnership (PPP) 
proposal for developing the vacant parcel located at 8 Le Quy 
Don, District 1, HCMC.  Post management in HCMC and Mission 
Vietnam leadership in Hanoi look forward to working closely with 
OBO in order to further develop this proposal. 
 
¶2. (U) OBO has suggested a real estate team visit Vietnam in 
January 2008 in order to further develop the proposal and to 
move the process forward.  Post warmly welcomes the visit of an 
OBO team as well as stakeholders from DS and other Washington 
offices.  Post would be happy to assist with scheduling any site 
visits and internal/external meetings OBO deems appropriate. 
 
¶3. (U) Post understands that security concerns are of highest 
priority when evaluating any PPP proposal.  Per ref A (para 2), 
post hereby confirms that all office elements being considered 
for relocation to the PPP site are entirely non-CAA.  All of 
these offices are already located off-compound in STL space - 
all of which is non-CAA. 
 
¶4. (U) Post shares OBO's concerns on gaining GVN approval for a 
PPP project.  Mission Vietnam leadership is prepared to fully 
engage with the GVN on this issue when OBO determines that the 
time is right.  With OBO's concurrence, post proposes to raise 
this issue informally with the GVN at the earliest opportunity 
in order to gauge initial reaction.  In addition to the formal 
government-to-government process, post has a key asset in local 
investors and developers. There are currently many large 
American-led real estate and investment firms in HCMC that know 
how to get things done with the GVN.  These firms have years of 
experience in the market and have excellent contacts with the 
various agencies that would need to sign off on any PPP project. 
 
¶5. (U) Post heartily endorses OBO's proposal to develop a 
general list of items the USG desires (staff housing, CGR, 
office space, etc) combined with a description of various PPP 
concepts and then to ask for expressions of interest followed by 
formal proposals.  Post believes that this approach would 
encourage creative proposals and provide the best overall deal 
for all parties. 
 
¶6. (U) Post looks forward to receiving additional feedback from 
OBO as the evaluation and information gathering stage of this 
project moves ahead.  Please do not hesitate to contact post POC 
Christopher Brown for any additional information. He can be 
reached at +84 8 922 9433 x 2225 or brownc22@state.gov. 
 
FAIRFAX