Hanoi's Construction Department and Hanoi Housing Development and Investment Corporation should take responsibility for a large number of abandoned apartments in the city according to an official from the municipal people's council. 

Some resettlement apartment buildings in Trung Hoa-Nhan Chinh Urban Area in Hanoi

Head of the Council's Urban Department, Nguyen Nguyen Quan voiced his concerns when leading an inspection team at a recent meeting with the Hanoi Housing Development and Investment Corporation.

In a report announced at the meeting, the Hanoi Housing Development and Investment Corporation said that they were managing 166 resettlement buildings with a total of 14,211 apartments of which 13,111 have been successfully sold. 

724 other apartments have been assigned by the city's people's committee to serve some resettlement projects but no one had wanted to live in them. Besides, some 376 apartments are waiting for future resettlement projects, the report said. 

Commenting on the report, a representative from the Hanoi People's Council's inspection team, Doan Viet Cuong, said that many of the 376 apartments that are still waiting to serve future resettlement projects belong to buildings that had existed since 2003.

“It was such a huge waste to leave such a large number of apartment abandoned in over ten years," Cuong commented. 

The company explains that the apartments used only for resettlement purpose following direction from the city people's committee so they cannot lease out. 

"The slow clearance process at old buildings have also led to the new ones abandoned for long time,' the company said.

"We will continue to work to find out the real cause to this situation," Quan said. "The company and the construction department should take responsibility for the problems."

Over the past years, despite high demand for housing, many people have refused to move into resettlement buildings in Hanoi and left thousands of apartments lying empty due to their low quality and poor locations.

According to an article from Tien Phong Newspaper, at least 150 apartments in Sai Dong Ward, Long Bien Distirct have remained abandoned for 11 years because the quality of the construction is too low compared to nearby buildings. 

The same situation is also seen in many other resettlement projects in Nam Trung Yen Urban Area in Cau Giay District, Den Lu Urban Area in Hoang Mai District, or in Ba Dinh District. 

A representative for Cau Giay District People's Committee said corruption was the negative side of the public investment projects. Each year, the state spends hundreds of billions of VND on resettlement areas but only 30% of the residents agree to be relocated to areas they aren’t historically tied to. The rest sold their apartments to move elsewhere.

Dtinews