HCM CITY — Three apartment buildings in HCM City will be rebuilt this year as part of the city’s plan to renovate or replace old apartment buildings by 2020, Trần Trọng Tuấn, director of the city’s Department of Construction, has said.

The apartment buildings are located at 251 Hoàng Văn Thụ Street in Tân Bình District, 11 Võ Văn Tần Street in District 3 and an unidentified building in District 1, according to Tuấn.  

The city in early March asked all district people’s committees to inspect pre-1975 buildings and propose relocation, detailed renovation plans on a 1:5,000 scale, and issuance of construction licences.

The districts have reported that 20 old apartment buildings failed to meet standards, including 16 apartment buildings in Tân Bình District and two apartment buildings each in Thủ Đức District and District 4.

The city has 474 old apartment buildings. Of these, 14 are in serious disrepair and tenants should be moved out as soon as possible, according to the Construction Department.

A representative of District 5’s People’s Committee said many apartment buildings were in bad shape and that the district had faced problems resettling tenants who lived in the old 440 Trần Hưng Đạo Apartment Building.

The People’s Committee of District 4 said it had no areas to relocate tenants in old buildings.

Tuấn said that District 5 should work with investors in the HCM City Power Company Building and others along Võ Văn Kiệt Boulevard to arrange apartments for relocated tenants.

“In District 4, many commercial housing projects are preparing to start work along Bến Vân Đồn Street. These are favourable locations for resettlement,” he said

He said that investors should be asked to use 20 per cent of their apartment buildings for resettled households, instead of the requested contribution of VNĐ5-10 billion (US$220,000-440,000) for infrastructure construction.

District 10

District 10’s People’s Committee said the district held a meeting with tenants and investors on March 24 about the construction of the new Ngô Gia Tự Apartment Building.

Nguyễn Thị Thu Nga, deputy chairwoman of the district, said the district must take the initiative to repair old apartment buildings by the city’s deadline of 2020.

The district has about 40 pre-1975 apartment buildings. It has razed 15 old apartment blocks and rebuilt four apartment buildings, while the remaining 25 have been inspected and evaluated.

The district has completed the paperwork for site clearance for the 25 remaining buildings and provided the information to both tenants and investors.

In an interview with Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) newspaper, Nga said the city’s People Committee had agreed to take back public land areas that have been used ineffectively and give them to the district for resettlement purposes.

The district was granted more than 27,000sq.m of land and has built apartment buildings on 10,000sq.m of land, she said.

District 10 has also ensured a land fund for resettlement and plans to renovate or replace about 17 old apartment buildings by 2020, she said. — VNS