Hanoi plans to have 30,000 more social housing units

The above information was stated by Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Duong Duc Tuan at a working session with the National Assembly's Supervisory Delegation on real estate market management and social housing development in the 2015-2023 period.

According to the target assigned in the Government's project to develop at least 1 million social housing units, by 2025, Hanoi must complete 18,700 apartments. To date, the city has 30 completed projects with nearly 1.7 million square meters of floor space and 58 ongoing projects with nearly 60,500 units. In addition, there is a 20% and 25% land fund for social housing construction in 83 plots of land for commercial housing construction and urban areas.

Mr. Tuan said the city has added 15 new large-scale land plots to invest in concentrated social housing projects with synchronous technical and social infrastructure. Of these, 2-3 are areas for building workers' housing near industrial parks. Each land plot is expected to develop about 2,000 units, a total of 30,000 units. Recently, the city also approved the investment policy for 4 independent social housing projects with about 1 million square meters of floor space, preparing for bidding to select investors.

However, the Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee assessed that the implementation of social housing and worker housing projects is "still slow". The reason is that the planning of land allocation for social housing construction has not met the huge demand of the city. The architectural planning indicators of this segment are very low compared to the scale of the project due to the control of population size. Not to mention, the incentive mechanisms and policies are not attractive to businesses and people to participate. The procedure for selecting investors through bidding takes a lot of time...

At the meeting, Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh proposed that there should be a unified type of housing, without distinction between social housing and commercial housing, so that "people have equal access to quality and services".

Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi responded that the quality of social housing must meet the general standards for apartment buildings issued by the Ministry of Construction, but "house prices are lower". Mr. Nghi said that the Ministry has noted the difficulties in managing the real estate market and developing social housing in Hanoi, and has added a report explaining to the Supervisory Team.

Concluding the working session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai requested Hanoi City to urgently complete the two planning tasks of the capital and report to competent authorities to remove difficulties.

"This is an important field to promote growth, ensure social security, and develop social housing for low-income people," the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly emphasized.