Housing mess
Housing mess
The stagnant property market has affected projects for commercial houses as well as housing projects for families affected by urban development projects, as many of the developers of resettlement housing have apartments unsold.
The management board of the Thu Thiem Urban Area in District 2 has received only 2,878 apartments and 1,512 foundations for 12,500 houses planned for the district's re-settlement project, only 1,700 to 1,800 of these apartments were expected to be sold.
Many houses under other resettlement projects in HCM City have been left unoccupied.
These include the North Rach Chiec Residential Area Project in District 9 which was brought into use five years ago. So far, only a few apartments have been occupied in this five-storey building designed to provide housing to over 100 resettled households, who had to move to make way for construction of the Bac Rach Chiec property project.
According to residents in this area, poor access to the facility and difficulty in finding a job in the area are hindering households from resettling in this housing facility.
The 72-apartment Him Lam-Kenh Te Tenement on Nguyen Huu Tho Street has only a few tenants after seven years in operation, while the Phu My Tenement in District 7 has only 50 tenants for its 300 apartments.
Similarly, the investor of the Vinh Loc B Tenement in Binh Chanh District has to pay management and maintenance fees of billions of Vietnamese dong per month for the 1,132 unsold apartments at this tenement.
Not only investors but also authorities at district levels have to shoulder the burden caused by these resettlement projects. The People's Committee of District 12 paid VND60 billion ($2.7 million) to purchase resettlement apartments that are not accepted by households affected by urban development projects in the locality.
According to Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper, households affected by urban development projects have to accept compensation for relocation of their homes at market prices. Therefore, they must be authorised to choose locations for their resettlement.
To solve the problems, the HCM City Department of Construction has proposed that 1,769 apartments under five resettlement projects in Districts 7, Binh Tan and Binh Chanh be converted into houses for low-income families.
The proposal, if realised, would help city authorities recover for the state budget thousands of billions of Vietnamese dong invested in these resettlement projects that remain unsold.
vietnamnews
