HCM City (VNA) - The Department of Construction in HCM Cityhas encouraged companies at the Hiep Phuoc and Linh Trung Industrial Parks inNha Be and Thu Duc districts to pilot construction of residential buildingclusters with 25-sq.m apartments priced at 100 million VND (4,405 USD) forworkers.

Tran Trong Tuan, the department’s head, told local media recently that the twoindustrial parks in the outyling districts had large areas of unused land whichcould be used for housing workers.

He said that investors would be more willing to pay for low-income housing ifthey did not have to pay compensation for residents affected by the buildingprojects. Investors would also be able to avoid paying for infrastructure suchas roads and power and water supply, he added.

Tuan said the department had created favourable conditions for any enterpriseready to invest in low-income housing.

Le Huu Nghia, director of real estate firm Le Thanh Co. Ltd, told Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) newspaper that it isimpossible to build 100 million VND apartments because of the increase in theprice of building materials and wages for construction workers.

In the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park in Nha Be district, the land for buildingfoundations is weak, and thus apartments in that area could cost 180 millionVND because of additional work needed, Nghia said.

Land at the Linh Trung Industrial Park in Thu Duc district is not as soft asland at the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park, he added. However, the price of eachapartment would be 150 million VND, he added.

Truong Anh Tuan, CEO of Hoang Quan Real Estate Corporation, which specialises insocial housing projects, said that administrative procedures for buildingsocial housing apartments in the city were more complicated than inneighbouring provinces.

He said that two or three years were needed to complete initial procedures forprojects on building social apartments, which drives away investors.

Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said the pricefor an apartment in social housing was at least 300-400 million VND.

Chau said that areas of land now used for rubber plantations in Cu Chi districtand at Pham Van Hai farm in Binh Chanh district would be good sites to buildapartments for workers.

Before construction begins, local authorities should invest in building streetsthat connect to these areas, he added.

He and other experts have asked the city’s People’s Committee to expand themetro line under construction from An Suong Bus Station to Cu Chi district tocreate conditions for further development.

The metro line would add to the success of social housing projects in Cu Chi district,he said, adding that only a few cheap apartment building projects were beingbuilt in the central city due to a lack of land.

The municipal Department of Construction said it generally does not encourageconstruction of buildings with such cheap apartments as it would “destroyfuture planning”, according to Tuan.

Between 2006 and 2016, 14 social housing apartment projects were built,providing more than 5,100 apartments for workers in the city, but these metonly 15 percent of demand, he added.

The department has set aside 142 ha for 39 additional social housing apartmentprojects with a total of 45,000 apartments, he said.

Nine of them are under construction while investors have been approved for 14of them. The remaining project has received an investment licence.

The price of apartments, though, will be 500 million-1 billion VND as investorsmust pay compensation to residents required to move to make way forconstruction.-VNA