Low income earners to get housing

Hanoi’s low income group has a shot at owning a home

Under the Hanoi People’s Committee plan, about 1,000 new apartments will be built in sub areas of Hanoi, about 15 kilometres from the city centre, to meet low income earners demand.
The apartments will be built mostly in Viet Hung New Residential Area of Gia Lam and Kim Chung commune of Dong Anh district.
People who are eligible to lease these apartments will be civil servants, army personnel and workers who are working in industrial and manufacturing zones of Hanoi.
With the leasing price, expected to be less than VND500,000 per month ($31), priority will be given to people who have been working for more than five years, young couples and people who used to work in remote areas before returning to Hanoi.
According to the Hanoi Natural Resources, Environment and Land Department, the city has implemented 35 new residential areas in the past 10 years, over a total area of 1,465 hectares. However the volume of housing available for low income earners is still modest.
The No. 2 Construction Corporation (Hacinco) is the first company to build a high rise building for lease in Lang Ha – Thanh Xuan.
With an investment of VND300 billion ($18.7 million), the project is offering 300 apartments ranging from 40 to 119 square metres, at the leasing price of VND1.5 to 4 million per month which is hardly affordable to low income earners.
However, this project will not be put into operation until after 2007.
Another 200 apartments were finished for selling to low income earners in Hanoi’s Lang St., and Cau Dien, Xuan La and Xuan Dinh commune.
The Hanoi People’s Committee plans to build about 20,000sqm of housing annually to meet the demand of low income earners.
The tenants will pay by installments over 10 years, with an initial payment of 70 per cent of the apartment’s value upon signing the contract with investors.
Nguyen Dang Binh, deputy director of Hanoi’s Natural Resources, Environment and Housing Department said that his department will collect a list of low income people who would like to buy an apartment and transfer this information to the investors.
Some projects to build houses for low income earners are also in the pipeline in Ho Chi Minh City. Last year the Asian Development Bank in Vietnam committed to give a $30 million loan in order to build houses for low income earners.
Through commercial banks in Vietnam, the project will give loans for about 138,000 customers to buy houses or upgrade their accommodation in urban areas.
Chinese and Korean developers have received a government thumbs-up to proceed with a plan to build budget homes for sale in Ho Chi Minh City. However investors have not paid attention to the Hanoi market.
According to Hanoi’s Natural Resources, Environment and Housing Department, the city hopes to build 60,000 units for sale by installments and 10,000 units for lease to low income earners by 2010.
According to a survey done by the Vietnam Worker’s Association, 31 per cent of state employees in the country do not own a private house and were leasing run down apartments with poor facilities.




No. 795/January 8-14, 2007