VietNamNet Bridge – The high income earners, who spend billions of dong to buy high end apartments in big cities, also complain the pollution has badly affected their quality of life.

A wood processing workshop located at the first floor of the Licogi 13 Building.

The local residents at the Pacific apartment building on Ly Thuong Kiet Street in the central area of Hanoi complain they have suffered from the noise from the bar on the top floor of the building.

A café and bar covering an area of hundreds of square meters has been set up on the 19th floor, which regularly produce noise--especially at night, thus making the lives of all the local residents upset.

The building’s investor, in an effort to optimize profits, has been trying to set up more business units on the public areas. Besides the café and the bar, two glass houses have been installed on the courtyard area.

“The noise from the building, plus the noise from the central air conditioning system of the office building nearby have gone far beyond our endurance,” a local resident said.

“This has badly affected our mind and body. I feel sorry for the children who cannot concentrate on their study, or relax after the hard school hours,” he said.

The building investor had a meeting with the local residents, but no common voice has been reached by the two parties. The banners and banderoles with the words protesting against the investor still have been hung at the entrance doors and on public areas.

Meanwhile, the local residents at Licogi 13 high end apartment bloc on Khuat Duy Tien Street have been crying about the woodshop on the first floor. The woodshop reportedly generates noise, dust and brings terrible chemical odor.

The first floor of the building was designed to serve as offices. However, the investor has leased a part of the floor area to develop a restaurant and café. Besides, hundreds of square meters of have been leased to a private enterprise which develops a woodshop.

A local resident complained that the woodshop, where there are timber and chemicals, would create fire or explosion at any time. Therefore, the residents of the building have been “living in fear.”

The residents of the N05 high end apartment bloc in the Dong Nam new urban area do not have to live together with a woodshop, but they have been tortured by the food smell from the street rice shops and restaurants.

Under the agreements signed between the apartment developer and the local residents, the first floor is reserved for day care center and public activities, while the second floor would be for offices. However, food shops and restaurants have been set up instead.

Dung, a young man, expressed his worry that explosion and fire may take place one day, since the restaurants here use large gas tanks which are put close to the exit doors of the apartment bloc. If fire occurs, the lives of hundreds of people of the building will be in danger.

Just some days ago, the local residents got panicked when seeing smoke from the restaurant on the first floor, while the fire alarm was silent.

Nguyen Minh Tuan, from a construction consultancy firm has noted that it is a “new problem of new urban areas,” that the real estate developers try to use the buildings for many different purposes to optimize profits, while ignoring the environment problems.

Duy Anh