The construction minister and officials from the Government Office and the ministries of public security, finance, planning and investment, natural resources and environment, and justice will join the event.

The conference will also see the participation of the general directors of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies, and 14 Hanoi-based credit institutions, and representatives from the Vietnam National Real Estate Association.

In Dispatch No. 993/CD-TTg, dated October 24, 2003, the PM urged more drastic solutions to boost the domestic property market in a safe, healthy and sustainable fashion, thus contributing to spurring socio-economic development.

He asked the central bank to instruct commercial banks to continue real estate lending, take appropriate solutions to reduce interest rates, further streamline administrative procedures, and offer special incentives to feasible projects.

The SBV was also requested to closely coordinate with the Ministry of Construction to review loan terms in order to accelerate the disbursement of the social housing loan package worth 120 trillion VND (5.12 billion USD).

The credit package with incentive interest for both developers and buyers is set to boost social housing construction amid a shortage of affordable apartments.

Under the 10-year package, which was launched by the central bank in April, the loan interest rates for them will be 1.5-2% lower than those of commercial banks.

At a recent question-and-answer session of the ongoing 6th sitting of the 15th National Assembly, SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong also affirmed that the bank will step up the information work to further popularise the package among the public, given its current sluggish disbursement.

The disbursement has been far slower than expected due to the limited supply and inappropriate loans terms, Hong elaborated, noting that the central bank will urge People’s Committees of cities and provinces to soon announce projects entitled to the package.

The bank will instruct credit institutions to pay more attention to the disbursement, and expand it to commercial banks, Hong said.

Over the past time, only 18 out of the 63 People's Committees released the list of participating projects with 53 projects and total loan demand of 27 trillion VND.

According to a Government report, as of the end of September, a total of 46 social housing projects with about 20,210 apartments had been completed in urban areas./.VNA