VietNamNet Bridge – After 12 universities now located in the inner city of Hanoi relocate to the suburbs what will the land be used for?  This is the hot topic of discussion amongst Hanoians. Architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem, Deputy Chair of the Hanoi Urban Planning and Development Association, former Director of the Hanoi Planning and Architecture Department, talked about the issue.

 

Nghiem said that 20 years ago, Hanoi’s authorities once asked universities in the inner city to relocate. However, the request was not fulfilled due to the lack of determination of the local authorities and schools.

 

The capital city planning project in 1998 stipulated that it was an urgent task to relocate schools and relocate factories which pollute the environment. However, the schools did not relocate, and a part of the land has been appropriated by individuals who have turned the land into private accommodations. The Hanoi Economics University and the University of Technology are typical examples.

 

Experts believe that it is necessary to relocate universities now because many schools are reportedly overloaded with poor facilities. Do you think so?

 

Now Hanoi has nearly 70 universities and junior colleges with nearly 700,000 students. Those numbers do not include one million in-service students or those who follow short-term training courses. The number of students is equal to the population of the two crowded districts. At some schools, every student has 7-8 square meters only, while the standard requirement is 55-60 square meters.

 

It is necessary now to verify the real situations of schools to set up the criteria for schools to leave. In the last 10 years, the number of universities, including private schools, has increased sharply. Only the places  with historical significance, should be remain where they are.

 

The main reason behind the failure in the relocation plan was that no capital fund could be created.

 

Some factories, which were ordered to leave, left large land areas where new apartment blocks have arisen. What do you think the land left by the universities should be used for?

 

We should prioritize using the land for public space and construction works that serve the interests of the public. We should not build high density houses here, because the central area does not have any other land. The green space in the inner city is very low at 1.09 square meter per head. Meanwhile, the figure should be two square meters per head at minimum. And if Hanoi wants to become an environmentally friendly city, it will need to have 5-6 square meters of green space per head.

 

In 1998, the five districts of the inner city of Hanoi only had 960,000 people, while the figure jumped to 1.4 million by early 2009. In 1998, we set up the goal of relocating 160,000 people and keeping 800,000 in the inner city. However, the plan completely failed because the population did not decrease but it increased to 1.4 million by 2009

 

There are very few cultural works that serve people’s lives. In 1954, Hanoi only had 610,000 people, but it had 13 cinemas, not including theatres. Meanwhile, despite the sharp increase in population, the number of cinemas has not significantly increased .

 

Many new urban areas have arisen in the places on which there were once factories, thus putting harder pressure on the central area.

 

But experts say that schools need to sell their land to real estate developers to get money or they will not have money to build their schools on new places in the suburbs.

 

It is not true. The city’s authorities, urban planners and educators need to sit together to discuss solutions on capital arrangement

 

It is estimated that in order to relocate 12 schools, we will need some 100 trillion dong. I know that some schools and associations will work together on the issue. We will need to learn from what other countries have done.

 

Source: Tien phong