Minister of Construction Pham Hong Ha has asked Hanoi’s authorities to speed up social housing projects to meet the demand that becomes urgent in the recent years.
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“The ministry will help Hanoi tackle any problem arising in the implementation of the planning by reporting the issues to the government,” the minister pledged.
So far, Hanoi has 32 social housing projects, nine of them are currently either selling or renting 8,000 apartments and the remaining 23 are in execution from now until 2020.
The social housing projects are mostly located in the peripheral districts including Gia Lam, Dong Anh, Thuong Tin, Thanh Tri, Bac Tu Liem, Nam Tu Liem, and Hoai Duc.
Demand for social housing in Hanoi is on the rise due to the operations of industrial parks and a large number of low- and middle-income residents.
But the city’s social housing development remains slow despite the 10-year implementation of the plan. Nguyen Chi Dung, deputy director of Hanoi’s Department of Construction, attributed the situation to the lack of cleared land and poor infrastructure.
In an effort to ensure homes for low-income people, the government offered in 2012 a three-year preferential loan worth VND30 trillion (US$1.3 billion) to developers who conducted low-cost housing projects mainly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. But the number of projects has proven insufficient compared to the actual demand which is estimated at 110,000 apartments in Hanoi.
The price of social housing is VND15 million (US$646)/square meter as maximum. Beneficiaries include those owning no domiciles or dilapidated houses, police and military officiers, people in the payroll of the armed forces, poor civil servants, and low-income people.
