VietNamNet Bridge - University students are finding it difficult to rent rooms in large cities, even though the State has spent big money to fund dormitories.

 

Hacinco Student’ Village in Thanh Xuan district, developed by Handico 2, is well known in Hanoi as the first student housing project in the city.

However, it does not look like a student village. The “student village’ signboard is hidden behind numerous advert boards of cafes, food shops and tea shops.

At the entrance gate No 1 which faces Nguy Nhu Kon Tum street, there are many cafes, drug stores and street food shops. The rooms facing Le Van Thiem street have turned into kindergartens and business offices. Restaurants and bars have mushroomed within the campus of the village.

Ngo Thi Thuy, a student of Hacinco Village, noted that the village has been commercialized. 

“While we lack libraries, halls and other material facilities, there are many business offices and shops,” she noted.

Students have to follow very complicated procedures to be able to rent rooms in the village. Thousands of students apply for rented rooms, but not all of them are satisfied because of the limited number of rooms.

According to Dinh Dai Co from Hacinco Village Management Board, about 3,450 students live in the village now and they have to pay VND250,000-350,000 a month.

Co confirmed that the six apartments in A block have been leased to companies as offices because of the unreasonable design of the apartments. 

Each apartment has an area of 150 square meters, large enough for 24 students, but there are only two toilets.

A representative from the Hanoi Construction Department confirmed that the students’ village initially was not designed to serve commercial activities. 

However, as the investor cannot take back the investment capital by renting rooms to students, it has to lease rooms to businesses to earn money. 

While students find it hard to rent rooms at Hacinco Village, the dormitory complex in Hoang Mai district, capable of accommodating 10,000 students, is deserted.

The dormitory was put into operation in January 2015. Each of the rooms has an area of 57 square meters, equipped with modern facilities, but they are unattractive to students.

Each student is told to pay VND205,000 a month in rent to live in a room for eight people. To date, only 500 students have moved there, so the building is running at just 5 percent of designed capacity after eight months of operation.

Le Phuc Loi, head of the Phap Van Students’ Village Management Board, thinks the village cannot attract students because of unfavorable transport conditions. There is only one bus route to the Phap Van – Tu Hiep urban area.

Tien Phong