A local realty conglomerate turned the first sod on Sunday at a 45-story tower in the northern city of Hai Phong, which will be the tallest of its kind in Vietnam’s northern coastal region once completed.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the skyscraper that is set to be the new iconic building for Hai Phong, located 120km east of Hanoi, in the future.

The 148 meter high building is developed by Vingroup, within the company’s Vinhomes Riva City Hai Phong urban area.

The tower, fully covered with environmentally-friendly glass, is a complex of a modern trade-service center and the 300-room Vinpearl Hotel City, the first-ever five-star hotel in the port city, spanning a total area of 30,000 square meters.

The project is designed by Dallas-based architecture firm Humphrey & Partners, featuring two base constructions in wavy shape similar to a flowing river.

“The construction of the tower will help give Hai Phong a facelift,” the municipal chairman Nguyen Van Tung said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The project is slated for completion by the end of next year and is scheduled for commission in late 2018.

Vietnam’s northern coastal region consists of Hai Phong and four other coastal provinces, Quang Ninh, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh.

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