VietNamNet Bridge – Ha Noi People's Committee has told the municipal Department of Construction and local authorities to survey and renumber houses, especially those along newly opened roads in the city.

Vice chairman of the city's committee, Nguyen Van Khoi, said that the opening and expansion of many new roads and the forming of new urban areas had led to chaos in house numbering.

The expanded Nguyen Phong Sac Street in Cau Giay District was renamed Tran Thai Tong Street, but house numbers are a mixed batch of odds and evens.

There are houses with old numbers and others with new numbers. There are even some with two numbers – and those with both old and new numbers. In Hoang Quoc Viet, Lang Ha, Tran Dai Nghia, Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Khoai, Tran Khanh Du and Pham Van Dong streets, a similar situation occurs. Street numbers are a mix between big and small numbers.

Some houses even have the same numbers, creating a nightmare for postmen, delivery drivers, taxi drivers – and anyone else unfortunate enough to be looking for a home in the area.

Dao Van My, who has been living in Ha Noi for 30 years and works as a taxi driver for the Mai Linh Taxi Corporation, said that he sometimes got into trouble in finding correct addresses, although he was quite familiar with city streets.

"I've had many bad experiences with irregular house numbers after four years driving around in this city," My said.

"For example, there are two houses numbering 290 Nguyen Trai Street, two houses 25 Tran Khanh Du Street and two houses 36 Tran Thai Tong. These houses are between several metres to one kilometre away from each other.

"It's odd having to ask passengers which No290 or No25 they want to visit. In case they have no idea, it's best they call the owners of the houses," My said.

According to deputy director of the municipal Department of Construction, Nguyen Quoc Tuan, the reason for the chaos in house numbers is unclear designation of authority overseeing the issue.

To add to the confusion, some householders in new and newly expanded streets are known to have numbered their houses themselves, resulting in even more chaos.

VietNamNet/VNS