HCM CITY —  The Department of Construction in HCM City has encouraged companies at Hiệp Phước and Linh Trung industrial parks in Nhà Bè and Thủ Đức districts to pilot construction of residential building clusters with 25-sq. m apartments priced at VNĐ100 million (US$4,405) for workers.

Trần Trọng Tuấn, the department’s head, told local media recently that the two industrial parks in the outyling districts had large areas of unused land which could be used for housing workers.

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

Tuấn said the department had created favourable conditions for any enterprise ready to invest in low-income housing.

Lê Hữu Nghĩa, director of real estate firm Lê Thành Co. Ltd, told Người Lao Động (The Labourer) newspaper that it was impossible to build VNĐ100 million apartments because of the increase in the price of building materials and wages for construction workers.

In Hiệp Phước Industrial Park in Nhà Bè District, the land for building foundations is weak, and thus apartments in that area could cost VNĐ180 million because of additional work needed, Nghĩa said.

Land at Linh Trung Industrial Park in Thủ Đức District is not as soft as land at Hiệp Phước Industrial Park, he added. However, the price of each apartment would be 150 million, he added.

Trương Anh Tuấn, CEO of Hoàng Quân Real Estate Corporation, which specialises in social housing projects, said that administrative procedures for building social housing apartments in the city were more complicated than in neighbouring provinces.

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

Lê Hoàng Châu, chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said the price for an apartment in social housing was at least VNĐ300 million-VNĐ400 million.

Châu said that areas of land now used for rubber plantations in Củ Chi District and at Phạm Văn Hai farm in Bình Chánh District would be good sites to build apartments for workers.

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

He and other experts have asked the city’s People’s Committee to expand the metro line under construction from An Sương Bus Station to Củ Chi District to create conditions for further development.

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

The city’s Department of Construction said it generally does not encourage construction of buildings with such cheap apartments as it would “destroy future planning”, according to Tuấn.

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

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

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

The price of apartments, though, will be VNĐ500 million-VNĐ1 billion as investors must pay compensation to residents required to move to make way for construction. — VNS