Shocking revelations about the delay in implementing the social housing project at 393 Linh Nam, Hanoi

(CLO) Although Hanoi has clearly stated the reasons for the delay in implementing social housing projects, in a recent press meeting, Mr. Nguyen Huu Duong, Chairman of Hoa Binh Company Limited, gave another reason for this phenomenon.

The number of social housing in Hanoi is still very limited.

In early February 2024, the Ministry of Construction reported to the Prime Minister on the implementation of investment in the construction of at least 1 million social housing apartments in the 2021 - 2030 period.

In this report, the Ministry of Construction has "named" a number of localities that have not planned to allocate social housing land funds and mentioned a number of key localities that, although having a huge demand for social housing, have limited investment in social housing compared to the Project's target by 2025. For example, Hanoi has only 3 social housing projects, supplying 1,700 units to the market, meeting 9%.

Social housing project 393 Linh Nam, Hoang Ma. (Photo: ST)

At another workshop held in mid-November 2024, the Hanoi Department of Construction also revealed: To date, Hanoi has 30 completed social housing projects, with about 1.66 million square meters of floor space. 58 projects are under implementation with about 4 million square meters of floor space, 60,480 apartments.

In addition, there are 83 land plots with a total land use scale of about 43.58 hectares in 48 commercial housing projects and urban areas that must reserve 20% - 25% of land fund to build social housing according to regulations...

However, the Hanoi Department of Construction acknowledged that the development of social housing in Hanoi is still limited. For example, since 2015, no social housing project has been invested with budget capital, the number of newly developed social housing projects is still limited, and the investment projects to build social housing and workers' housing are being implemented behind the approved schedule...

In addition, the Hanoi Department of Construction pointed out that the main reason is due to difficulties and problems in the procedures for selecting investors for social housing construction projects through bidding, which takes a lot of time; the selection of investors to implement projects on land funds for social housing construction is still entangled with legal basis on public assets...

At the same time, the incentive mechanisms and policies for social housing projects are not really attractive, not attracting businesses to invest in building social housing, especially social housing projects in suburban areas and social housing serving workers, students...

Faced with this situation, at the 2024 meeting and dialogue between the Hanoi People's Committee and the capital's workers on May 23, Mr. Tran Sy Thanh, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee, said: The slow progress of social housing, in addition to some objective reasons, is our fault, the fault of the city's leaders, the city's People's Committee, departments, branches, and districts.

Mr. Tran Sy Thanh, Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee at the conference on May 23. (Photo: KTĐT)

Therefore, the Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee proposed that in 2024 and the remaining years of the 2021-2026 term, construction of housing areas for workers and social housing must be started as planned.

"It's slow, but we have to try. I think we can do it. This is a debt, and we need to identify it as a debt to the city's workers and employees," Mr. Thanh said.

Shocking revelation

Although the city's report has clearly stated the reasons for the delay in implementing social housing projects, in a recent press conference, Mr. Nguyen Huu Duong, Chairman of Hoa Binh Company Limited, revealed another reason for this phenomenon.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Duong said: According to regulations, localities that want to build social housing must allocate budget to clear land, build infrastructure and organize bidding to select investors.

However, in the case of enterprises, cooperatives, or individuals with available land funds who want to build social housing, they will be given priority in granting investment policies.

"Because businesses, cooperatives, and individuals already have clean land funds, the locality does not need to allocate budget for site clearance, so of course they will be prioritized and encouraged," said Mr. Duong.

However, Mr. Duong revealed: Since 2014 until now, after the Land Law (2013) was issued, no locality has spent money to clear the land, build infrastructure and organize bidding to select investors.

Also from 2014 until now, there are a few businesses with available land funds, wishing to build social housing but only in suburban areas, while there are no projects in the inner city.

“Our company has 2 plots of land in Hoang Mai (393 Linh Nam) that have applied for social housing and have been approved by the Hanoi People's Committee. According to Decree 30 of the Government, after 20 days of receiving the application, the investment policy must be granted and the investor must be appointed, but it has been 3 years, that is, more than 1,000 days, and we still have not received it,” said Mr. Duong.

Mr. Duong emphasized: The reason given by the city is that this is prime land, so it is suggested that the enterprise build commercial housing to increase budget revenue. On the contrary, building social housing on this land will cause waste of prime land of the city.

"Because of the policy of increasing budget revenue, although the regulations are very clear and there are many incentive and incentive mechanisms, the city does not support the development of social housing in this area," said Mr. Duong.

According to the Chairman of Hoa Binh Company Limited, this delay has caused great damage to the business, up to hundreds of billions of VND each year, including land tax, workers' salaries, equipment maintenance costs, etc.

“Our two plots of land in Hoang Mai have long-term land use certificates and have paid full land tax. Every year we have to pay 650 million VND in land tax. In the 3 years of delay, we have paid nearly 2 billion VND. However, in case of late payment of more than 120 days, Hanoi will order the collection of invoices, the collection of accounts, and prohibit the investor from going abroad. So, the money is paid in full, the legal documents are complete, but the application is not granted,” Mr. Duong said indignantly.

For this reason, Hoa Binh Company has repeatedly submitted applications to the Government and Hanoi People's Committee to consider granting investment policies for the social housing project at 393 Linh Nam, Hoang Mai, Hanoi.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/tiet-lo-gay-soc-ve-viec-cham-trien-khai-du-an-nha-o-xa-hoi-393-linh-nam-ha-noi-post326063.html