Vietnam - Resettlement condo projects face uncertainty

The HCMC government’s newly-announced plan to build several thousands of condos to replenish the resettlement housing fund is predicted to face uncertainty given the presence of several large-scale apartment schemes still mired in slow execution.

With the program to construct 12,500 resettlement apartments, the municipal authority has urged the Department of Construction to review the actual situation and assess the implementation progress of on-going resettlement housing projects. The department needs to submit to the local authority solutions to select investors and suitable investment methods in a bid to complete the plan by late next year.

The local authority has also told the construction department to carry out a program to build 11,000 resettlement apartments in the south of the city. It is expected 30 hectares will be set aside for high-rise condo building development in in Nha Be and Binh Chanh districts.

Developers have been asked to advance their finances to build these schemes and to sell their resettlement housing funds to local authorities later.

Old projects still foot-dragging

In early September in 2009, 21st Century International Development Co. started work on a resettlement project of 4,200 flats in Binh Khanh Ward in HCMC’s District 2. Covering about 30 hectares, the US$350 million scheme comprises 10 blocks of 20-25 stories.

The Binh Khanh resettlement project is considered one of the three biggest planned projects in the city, with 12,500 condos used for the resettlement purpose in the new urban area Thu Thiem. Once the scheme is complete, the investor is entitled to use one part of the housing and land fund there for its own business.

The project owner said at the ground-breaking time it would finish the project after 30 months of construction to meet the accommodation demand for some 16,000 residents. However, the project has had no progress over the last two years.

The same situation is also seen at the project to improve urban quality near Thu Thiem Bridge on Nguyen Huu Canh Street in Binh Thanh District invested by Construction JSC No. 5.

The project includes apartment and leasing office buildings of 35 stories and a resettlement condo building of 24 floors with a total of 500 flats. The construction of the scheme has still fallen behind schedule even though it was planned to be implemented from 2007 to 2015.

Dinh Dung - The Saigon Times Daily

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