Chairwoman of the HCMC People’s Council Nguyen Thi Le is inspecting a project in its second stage (sited in Nguyen Son Social Housing Area) (Photo: SGGP)
Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Le came to the household of Nguyen Hoang Phuong, living in Block 2 of Nguyen Son Social Housing Area in Binh Hung Commune of Binh Chanh District. Phuong is a driver with two children, and his wife is a kindergarten teacher. Eligible to buy a social-housing apartment here, he obtained a 60-square-meter one in 2019 with a 20-year installment for a preferential interest rate of only 6 percent (the Government’s loan package of VND30 trillion – US$1.23 billion). He could not hold his happiness, living in such a neighborhood with full facilities. After paying all the debt, this apartment will become a valuable asset for the family.
Opposite to this blissful state is the complicated social housing project of Vinh Loc D’gold in Vinh Loc A Commune of Binh Chanh District. Receiving the construction permit in March 2016, the project investor – An Nhan Investment and Development JSC. – committed to finishing the work in the second quarter of 2019. Sadly, the construction work is still unfinished, and 16 households are living temporarily in apartments there, feeling unsafe.
Chairman of the Binh Chanh District People’s Committee Vo Duc Thanh informed that in the 2016-2020 period, the district completed two social housing projects, with 3 others being partially finished, one on the way and five not yet started. One project was canceled. Since 2021, two more projects have been launched but none have completed.
As to the Vinh Loc D’gold project, due to the tardiness, An Nhan Investment and Development JSC. was sued, and was asked by the HCMC Construction Department to report the project progress weekly to the local authorities and stakeholders for monitoring.
Chairman Thanh shared that the district People’s Committee will continue to urge and support commercial housing projects with social housing obligations to complete their investment procedures, construction work on time to hand over the apartments agreed before.
Mentioning the reasons for tardiness in 19 social housing projects stated in the report of Chairman Thanh, Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Le particularly blamed both the investor of one unfinished project in Vinh Loc A Commune and the local authorities for letting 16 households in urgent need come and live in the block without having its construction work and fire prevention method accepted by functional units.
She asked that the district People’s Committee immediately work with the project investor to address the issue in compliance with the law so that safety and buyer rights are maintained. These families must leave the site for their safety, or else the district is responsible if accidents and fire or explosion happens.
Regarding the three projects in trouble because of land clearance, the HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Binh Chanh District People’s Committee must cooperate to tackle the problems as soon as possible. The 4 projects encountering difficulties related to land and land lease laws, relevant departments and state agencies must work together to address them.
Finally, Chairwoman Le requested that Chairman Thanh must closely monitor and support project investors to accelerate the land clearance progress or adjust the planning in order to meet the deadline. The district should pay more attention to its management role in these projects to ensure the investors observe all regulations on construction quality, fire prevention, and project legality. The district should try its best to answer the needs on social housing, worker accommodation of local residents.
General Director Le Nguyen Minh Quang of Nam Long Apartment Development Co. Ltd. complained to the inspection delegation that the trading procedure for one social-housing apartment is much more complicated than for a commercial one.
In addition, such costs as land compensation, technical infrastructure to connect to the main traffic routes are not precisely calculated in the retail price of a social-housing apartment. Therefore, relevant state agencies should help address these problems for investors in social housing projects.
By Duc Trung – Translated by Yen Nhi