"Unfreezing" 156 stuck projects

On April 24, a representative of Hung Thinh Corporation said that after the meeting on the afternoon of April 21 with the leaders of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City, two projects had their investment procedure bottlenecks resolved. Specifically, the department issued two documents to resolve the Dat Phuong Nam project (commercial name Moonlight Avenue, in Thu Duc City) and the Vinh Tien project (commercial name Moonlight Center Point, in Binh Tan District).

The first knots

At the same time, the meeting also resolved the issue of granting certificates to home buyers in 4 other projects. Accordingly, in the second quarter, more than 2,000 apartments and commercial areas at the Moonlight Park View projects - the remaining commercial part (Binh Tan district), Moonlight Boulevard (Binh Tan district), 9 View Apartment (Thu Duc city) and 8X Dam Sen (Tan Phu district) will be granted certificates.

Previously, on April 19, Novaland also restarted The Grand Manhattan project (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) through signing with TPBank and contractor Ricons. TPBank will provide financial support for the project to continue construction after a temporary suspension, as well as provide credit packages for home buyers, while Ricons will take on the role of general contractor.

This is one of the first projects that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has focused on removing legal obstacles. Currently, the project has completed the basic infrastructure, foundation, basement, body up to the 28th floor and some utility items such as the actual model house at the project. Novaland said the expected handover progress is in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Last week, Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), gave a quick report on the results of resolving difficulties of 156 commercial and urban housing projects in Ho Chi Minh City. In this report, Mr. Chau said that the City People's Committee has considered allowing investors of 5 real estate, commercial housing, and new urban area projects to mobilize capital for 50% of the number of future housing products of these 5 projects, equivalent to 5,432 apartments (including 2,989 apartments in a new urban area project).

This is to support enterprises to overcome difficulties while waiting for the conclusion of competent state agencies for projects subject to legal review, for which investors have previously fulfilled their obligations to pay land use fees and land rent. In addition, there is also an apartment building project in District 4 that has been directed by the City People's Committee to review and resolve.

HoREA did not provide specific information about the projects that were initially cleared of obstacles. However, in an interview with a reporter from Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Vu Anh Dung, Deputy Head of the Housing Development and Real Estate Market Department - Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, said that the results of resolving some projects that had problems with meeting the conditions for selling future housing. Accordingly, a company belonging to GamudaLand Group requested the Department of Construction to confirm that it met the conditions for selling future housing for areas A5 and A6 at the Celadon City urban area project, Tan Phu District. The City People's Committee agreed to mobilize 50% of the capital.

The project of the company belonging to Son Kim Real Estate Joint Stock Company (Son Kim Land) is the Song Viet complex in the new urban area of Thu Thiem, also requested confirmation of eligibility to sell future houses for lot I-17 and was also agreed by the City People's Committee to mobilize 50% of capital.

In addition, the commercial center and luxury apartment project of Gotecland Company in Tan Thuan Dong Ward, District 7 also requested approval of the procedure for selling future housing in the project. "The City People's Committee has agreed to mobilize 50% of capital" - Mr. Vu Anh Dung said.

Lot I-17 of the Song Viet complex project (Thu Duc City) has been allowed by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to mobilize capital for 50% of the number of future housing products. Photo: QUOC ANH

Involved in many fields and departments

According to the investigation of the reporter of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, the above projects mainly encountered problems related to apartment sale procedures, land tax calculation, construction permits, land price re-determination, inspection, and examination... Some projects have been stalled for many years.

Specifically, the project of the commercial center and luxury apartments on Ben Nghe Street, Tan Thuan Dong Ward, District 7, with the commercial name Shizen Home, is invested by Gotec Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Gotec Land). In 2022, Gotec Land submitted documents 3 times to the City Department of Construction to confirm eligibility to sell future housing. All 3 times, Gotec Land's documents were returned due to the need to review the process of transferring land use rights of the project.

The Song Viet complex project (Thu Duc City) is invested by Quoc Loc Phat Company (a member of Son Kim Land). The project has a total area of about 7.6 hectares, with a total estimated investment of VND 7,300 billion. In 2017, Quoc Loc Phat Company was assigned by the City People's Committee to implement the project. By 2019, the Government Inspectorate concluded that the City People's Committee had assigned the project to an investor without auctioning land use rights, calculating and collecting land use fees. In particular, determining land use fees at some plots of land with a unit price of VND 26 million/m2 was not in accordance with regulations.

Therefore, it is necessary to review and re-determine land prices for collection, avoiding losses to the state budget. This problem has lasted for many years, so it has not been granted a certificate of eligibility to sell or lease-purchase future housing, and completed areas have not yet been granted certificates of land use rights and ownership of houses and other assets attached to the land.

The Tan Thang cultural, sports and residential complex project, also known as the Celadon City project (Tan Phu district), has encountered the biggest problem in tax calculation. The project initially had an area of over 90.08 hectares and belonged to the investor, Saigon Thuong Tin Real Estate Joint Stock Company (Sacomreal, currently TTC Land).

Later, the legal entity was transferred to Saigon Thuong Tin Tan Thang Real Estate Investment Joint Stock Company (a subsidiary 98% owned by Gamuda Land). Sacomreal said that when Gamuda Land participated in buying shares, it only paid the recognized portion on the project adjusted by the City, the rest was not paid.

However, later, the Government Inspectorate required Gamuda Land to pay more than 400 billion VND in taxes because it did not pay compensation and resettlement support but only bought back shares of the project investment enterprise, so it could not deduct compensation and resettlement costs from land use fees and project land rent... Because it did not agree with this, the areas of the project that were completed and handed over to customers were not granted certificates, and the areas under construction were not granted confirmation of eligibility to sell or lease-purchase future housing.

According to Mr. Vu Anh Dung, the problems in 156 real estate projects are related to many fields: land, investment, planning, construction, finance... With the responsibility assigned by the City People's Committee, the Department of Construction has coordinated with HoREA to classify the problems according to the responsibilities and authority of the departments and branches, to submit to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee.

The list of 156 projects, but when grouped, a project can have 2-3 problems and recommendations, so in total there are up to 189 recommendations. Accordingly, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment is involved in 98 problems, the Department of Planning and Investment has 39 problems, the Department of Planning and Architecture has 20 problems, the Department of Construction has 20 problems, the Department of Transport has 3 problems, the Southern Management Board has 2 problems, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department has 4 problems, the Enterprise Finance Department has 1 problem, and the Thu Duc City People's Committee has 1 problem.

According to Mr. Vu Anh Dung, the Department of Construction alone has 20 projects with 20 problems and has had results in resolving some projects. Accordingly, up to now, 14 problems have been basically resolved, of which 9 problems have been resolved in writing, 3 recommendations have been made but there is no basis for resolution because they do not ensure legal regulations and 2 projects have been submitted to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. "The remaining 6 projects will continue to be resolved, of which the Department of Construction will directly handle 1 project according to its authority and submit 5 projects to the City People's Committee - we believe that it is possible to resolve 1 project immediately and 4 projects must continue to meet and ask for many opinions" - Mr. Vu Anh Dung informed.

Recommendation for final settlement

With the temporary obstacles being resolved, Mr. Le Hoang Chau proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and competent state agencies quickly conclude these projects, so that the real estate market can receive thousands of more apartments to help increase housing supply, create cash flow for businesses, increase market liquidity and increase state budget revenue. At the same time, resolve similar projects where investors also request to mobilize capital and sell future housing, to clear the real estate market and ensure fairness for businesses.

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