VietNamNet Bridge – Specific regulations on building housing in rural areas remain unavailable despite several policies on housing the State has adopted over the past years, industry insiders say.


Newly-built houses in the Village for Youth in the border commune of Mo Rai in the Central Highland province of Kon Tum. Incentive policies in terms of housing, land and technical infrastructure are neccessary in order to form concentrated residential complexes for ethnic groups in mountainous and remote areas. (Photo: VNS)
Most of the current rules on rural housing construction were in principle and were largely focused to help improve accommodation for poor households and those in flooded areas.

Meanwhile, no concrete stipulations on planning, architecture, standards and quality of rural housing were issued.

Nor were there specific policies on constructing housing in areas prone to natural disasters, such as the central and southern regions, experts said.

Rural housing was being built just to meet the residential space demand, they said.

No specific studies have so far been made on the impacts of natural calamities on rural housing to base solutions in design and construction on.

As a result, increasing rural development has been mainly spontaneous and lacking guidance and inspections for design, architecture, related infrastructure and environment.

The quality was unsatisfactory because of a lack of coordinated infrastructure, water and electricity supply and waste disposal, the ministry said have been absent.

The expected rise in living standards would be coupled with the demand for better, more comfortable housing construction in rural areas, the ministry said.

The stronger demand for new housing in these areas was also fuelled by an expected change in household structure that will drop to 3.5-3.7 people per household over the next decade from 3.9 in 2009 and 4.6 in 1999.

The average per-capita housing space in rural areas was predicted to reach 18.8sq.m by 2015 and 21.5sq.m by 2020.

To have more solid housing built in rural areas, the Ministry of Construction has proposed combining planning of rural housing development with the programme on renovating rural areas to realise a national target for rural modernisation in 2010-20 period.

It would also incorporate protecting the environment, the ministry said.

The ministry requested that guiding documents should include standard toilets to save land and minimise environmental pollution.

There should be incentive policies in terms of housing, land and technical infrastructure to form concentrated residential complexes for ethnic groups in mountainous and remote areas, and in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta.

It would be in step with the modernisation of agriculture and rural areas, and suit production practices, natural geography, and living customs of each region.

The focus would be on the Central and Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta regions.

Statistics from the Construction Ministry showed that more than 9.5 per cent or 1.47 million rural households live in makeshift houses, while the same number of people stay in dilapidated accommodation.

In the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, 1.61 million households or 49 per cent of the population live in makeshift, flimsy houses while the figure is 297,000 households or 8.2 per cent in the central region.

The ministry said these were not poor households but were in difficult circumstances, and needed assistance.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News