Hanoi luxury houses spend five years isolated
Hanoi luxury houses spend five years isolated
Despite being built five years ago, villas worth tens of billions of dong located in Hanoi’s Bac Linh Dam urban area still lack any access roads.
Five years
Five years ago, a row of seven villas was constructed in the new urban area of Bac Linh Dam. However only three houses No. 16, 28 and 26 have been inhabited so far. House No. 28, at the other end of the terrace, was just recently moved into, making it the only other house with access to the surrounding neighborhood.
The remaining villas are isolated from the surrounding area as the investor has utilised all of their land for the construction of the houses, expecting a new city project road to provide access to the housing.
This farcical situation only recently came to light when the Government requested Hanoi authorities to carry out an audit of “abandoned” villas across the capital city.
The stupidity of the situation was underlined when one of the current owners of the remaining villas was unable to enter his property with construction materials as landlords in the surrounding area denied him access.
Poor planning
The five-hectare Bac Linh Dam urban area has been developed by the Housing Development Investment Joint Stock Company (HUD2), and consists of part of the Linh Dam model new urban area in Hanoi’s Hoang Mai District.
The company started construction of the urban area in 2003 and first houses were sold in 2005. At present Bac Linh Dam houses around 3,000 residents.
Alongside Bac Linh Dam, a municipal project was scheduled to build a 15-metre road in front of the villas. HUD2 marketed the project with their project showing plans including the road, which was supposed to be built by the city. However delays in the municipal project have left the owners of HUD2 properties in a difficult situation.
Temporary solution
HUD2’s Director Nguyen Thanh Quang, said the company was mulling over a plan to rent land in order to construct a road for the isolated villas.
He noted that the firm had yet to receive an official petition from the owners complaining over the problem, and had become aware of the situation only through recent press coverage.
In the short term, HUD2 intends to co-operate with the Hanoi drainage project’s management board and authorities in Hoang Mai District to access land plots for the road’s construction.
A 3,000 square metre land lot in front of the villa block belongs to 20 households who have yet to receive compensation from the management board.
Le Thanh Hai, head of a site clearance group in Hoang Mai, said the project site was expected to be entirely cleared in the third quarter of this year. This means that at long last the owners of the Bac Linh Dam villas will have the road access they were promised many years ago.
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