VietNamNet Bridge – The dust is settling and taps remain dry in thousands of rental apartments in the newly built Phap Van-Tu Hiep residential quarter for students. Despite the complex's modern infrastructure and reasonable rental fee, it continues to remain without occupants.

Apartment buildings for students in Ha Noi's Cau Giay District. Many apartments in the newly built Phap Van-Tu Hiep residential quarter remain empty due to transport difficulties.

The residential area was built with the purpose of providing accommodation to students studying at universities and colleges around the Ha Noi capital. It is one of two modern residential quarters for students in Ha Noi.

Le Phuc Loi, head of Phap Van-Tu Hiep residential quarter's management board, said the residential area was built on a 40,000sq.m acreage in Phap Van-Tu Hiep new urban zone, Ha Noi's Hoang Mai District. The project's biggest investor is the Ha Noi People's Committee.

The area's six building blocks consist of 57sq-m apartments all stocked with modern furniture for a potential 22,000 students.

Each building block has a canteen, a healthcare room as well as communication services like telephones, wifi and a post office.

Following the residential quarter's management board's regulations, eight people can share an apartment with a monthly rental fee of VND205,000 per head. The cost does not include electricity or water fees.

In January, three of the building blocks were put into operation with initial expectations of accommodating 10,800 students.

Only 500 students, however, have signed on to live in these building blocks, Loi said. There are additional numbers of students who registered online for housing in the coming months, but the actual figure of incoming students remains unconfirmed.

"The first challenge is traffic, which isn't convenient for students," Loi said.

The entire residential area relies on a single bus route that runs through Thang Long University.

"We hope that the city will increase bus routes that run by the residential quarter, especially a bus route that goes through Giai Phong Road," he said.

Ha Noi College of Technology student Nguyen Huu Tien, whose home is in Ha Nam Province, said the infrastructure in the residences was very good but the problem was traffic.

Every morning, he must walk one kilometre to National Road 1A to reach his bus stop.

"When students look for accommodation, the first concerns are transportation conditions and the fee," Tien said.

Infrastructure, furniture and costs all are good, but the wifi network, he added, is a little troublesome since it doesn't connect in every apartment.

"Students sometime come late to school because they have to spend a 20-25 minutes waiting for a bus," Tien said.

A first-year student at Ha Noi Construction University, Nguyen Van Manh, said he recently registered online to book an apartment but that after hearing about the poor transportation conditions, he was reconsidering.

"Maybe, I will find a rental room near my college. Infrastructure there is not as good as Phap Van-Tu Hiep apartments but transportation is more convenient," Manh said.

Phap Van-Tu Hiep residential quarter's management board has set up a free xe om team to combat the transportation issue. Xe om drivers bring students from the apartment to the bus stop every morning.

Loi hopes that bus companies and the city's People's Committee will consider quickly setting up more bus routes that go along the residential area to better serve students in the coming school year.

VNS