ConBuild Vietnam 2009

The official opening of the fair was conducted in a symbolic act in which the ministers and government official of the Ministry of Construction (MOC), the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with the general director and business manager of Munich Trade Fair International Asia (MMI Asia), Ronald Unterburger, cut the red ribbon. The manufacturers from Japan and Taiwan were represented in large numbers. The numerous exhibitors from Korea, China and Germany were in part accommodated in country pavilions. The German pavilion was under the experienced management of Reinhard Willenbücher of the Internationale Messe AG (IMAG). Anja Schnieder represented the VDMA in Vietnam at the  ConBuild in a consultative function. At the German delegation evening in the presence of consul general Conrad Karl Cappell, the attending German and Vietnamese business partners had ample opportunity for an exchange of experience.

At the Symposium on Infrastructure, government representatives and urban planners gave a demonstration of the ambitious projects that are to be implemented in the coming years. These include a monorail route and an underground railway as well as the extension of the railroad network for Ho Chi Minh City. For Hanoi and Saigon, a restructuring of the cityscape is about to start. Apart from the installation of the sewer system in the capital in the north, which is already underway, and the economic metropolis in the south, satellite cities are in the planning stage. Already now, about 65% of the country’s gross domestic product goes to the construction sector, which is therefore the most important industrial sector of Vietnam.

The Weimar Institute for Precast Technology and Precast Construction (IFF), which has been maintaining close links with Vietnam for a long time and which has participated in ConBuild Vietnam from the very beginning, was this time once again represented. In the symposium “Methods and Equipment to Produce Concrete Products and Precast Elements,” German companies, among them the Hess Group and Eirich Mischtechnik, presented the technology for successful precast construction. The German Industrial Mutual Accident Insurance Association for the Stone and Quarry Industry (StBG) informed about occupational health and safety at the workplace, which is of special significance for the construction trades.

Vietnamese precast manufacturers reported about completed precast projects throughout their country emphasizing, as did Professor Bui van Boi of the Center for Construction Science Training and Technology Transfer (CST), who had studied in the German university city of Weimar, the advantages of this technology. In particular in such densely populated cities as Saigon, where one has to cope with very high traffic volumes , the unmatched short construction times that can be realized with precast technology were focused on. Dr. Palzer, one of the directors of IFF Weimar, moderated and chaired this symposium.

Thanks to the excellent contacts of IFF Weimar, a tour of a precast plant outside Saigon could be arranged.

The plant Vinaconex Nr. 45, which belongs to one of the countries leading construction firms, manufactures prestressed concrete piers, columns and beams as well as prestressed hollowcore concrete slabs. Production proceeds always project-related; so there are no large storage areas and no standard products. Transport und erection of the prestressed concrete components are all organized on an in-house basis. The required aggregates are primarily obtained from Cambodia. Most of them arrive by ship. This, due to the narrow streets in the hinterland, some of which are still in poor condition, is the fastest and for larger parts the only means of transport. The cement is manufactured by Vinaconex itself. The two company-owned cement plants achieve an annual production of

50 million tons and exclusively supply the inland plants.

ConBuild Vietnam was held for the first time in the economic capital of Saigon in the south of the country. This attracted a large number of manufacturers so that, despite the difficult year for all segments of industry, the organizer of the event MMI (Messe Munich International) received quite a number of late registrations for hall occupation. One is quite satisfied with the participation and looks forward to numerous participants in Hanoi 2010, where the fair will again take place from Dec 1^st to 4^th 2010.