Hanoi chairman Nguyen Duc Chung has asked for investigation into a case where a building investor has failed to repair lifts in an apartment block for months.

The request was sent to MTV Hanoi Housing Management and Development Company after clips and photos of residents at the G9 Apartment Building in Bac Tu Liem District having to walk on the rooftop to reach or leave their homes have gone viral on many newspapers and social websites.

Chung asked the company to urgently investigate and repair the elevators to ensure safety for people living here and report to the city People's Committee by January 31.

The G9 resettlement apartment building began accepting residents in September 2006. 120 households with more than 400 people are living here.

According to a resident, five out of six lifts have been broken since last October. They have reported the problems to the building management but nothing has been done so far. Besides the broke lifts, the building has also quickly deteriorated with paint peeling off and the floor cracking.

"For the past three months, we have had to climb on the rooftop of the building to reach the only working elevator to get up or down," a resident, Nguyen Quang Hung, who lives on the eighth floor said.

"It’s rather dangerous on rainy days or for those who are afraid of heights, but we have no other way."

Head of the building's management board, Nguyen Nang Ngoc, admitted that the lifts broke down about three months ago.

"We have called repairmen but it may take a long time to fix," he said.

People walk on the rooftop to get to their home at G9 apartment building in Hanoi on January 23. 

A pregnant woman and her son walk on the rooftop to leave their home on January 23. 

Dtinews