For many years, the project has remained an empty lot.
In the early days of March, Lao Dong Newspaper reporters were present at the land area of Project 88 Central (Long Bien ward, Hanoi City). This place is still just an empty land area surrounded by corrugated iron. For many years, dozens of customers who ordered houses in this project have fallen into hopeless waiting.
Although the investor has received the deposit, collected 10% of the total real estate purchase price, and promised to issue a notice to sign a purchase and sale contract to customers from the end of 2020, it has not been implemented. For a long time, the project has not been constructed.
Project 88 Central is a component project of the Berjaya - Handico12 Residential and Commercial Area Project (commercial name Hanoi Garden City) invested by Berjaya - Handico12 Joint Stock Company (formerly Berjaya - Handico12 Co., Ltd.).
Many years ago, the project was heavily promoted as a "rare item" in the shophouse commercial townhouse segment in the Long Bien area. With a scale of more than 13,000m2 including 86 shophouse lots, there are still many "winged" words on the internet from the investor about the prospect of turning this into a "modern market and trendy business area". But it's all just advertising. The project land is located quietly, with weeds growing lushly behind long corrugated iron fences.
According to PV's investigation, since 2020, about 80 customers have been signed contracts to register for purchase by Berjaya - Handico12 Joint Stock Company, and have paid 10% of the house value according to the progress.
Typically, the case of Ms. N.T. H ordering a house with a land area of 108m2, paying the company 200 million VND for the order and 10% of the total purchase price. With the total estimated purchase price of real estate as in the contract being more than 9 billion VND, Ms. H alone had to pay more than 1.1 billion VND to the investor from the time of ordering houses in the 88 Central project. With about 80 customers signing contracts, the amount of money that the investor has collected reflected up to hundreds of billions of VND.
But more than 5 years since signing the contract, the investor has not yet implemented the project as committed.
Mr. Vu Tuan Anh (born in 1984) - a resident who ordered a house at Project 88 Central - said: "We signed a contract to register to order a house at Project 88 Central from the third quarter of 2020. Up to now, after more than 5 years, the project has not been deployed for construction, with no clear actual progress. The investor has continuously made commitments on the time of official purchase and sale contract signing but has not implemented them, citing many different reasons such as epidemics, legal obstacles, shareholder changes".
In a collective petition, customers of Project 88 Central stated that: "The total amount of money that people have paid to order houses at the project is up to hundreds of billions of VND, however, to date, we have not received any clear and transparent information about the use of this money. Whether that money is still being managed, has been used for other purposes, or even has been completely lost is something we do not know...
The above situation has pushed people who signed house purchase contracts at the Project into an extremely difficult situation. For many years, many families have been forced to rent houses to live, suffering serious financial losses, and at the same time falling into prolonged psychological instability with feelings of panic, anxiety and disorientation.
Investor continuously misses appointments
The case file shows that for more than 5 years, there have been continuous promises from the investor about the project implementation time but they have not been implemented.
Accordingly, in the Purchase Registration Contract signed with customers in 2020, the investor Berjaya - Handico12 requested customers to pay 200 million VND at the time of signing the real estate purchase reservation form and pay 10% of the total real estate purchase price. At that time, the investor said, "expected to issue a notice of signing a real estate purchase and sale contract no later than September 2020".
By June 2022, in a notice issued, Berjaya - Handico12 Co., Ltd. said that the COVID-19 epidemic situation had affected the company's business plan and strategy, especially affecting the progress of Project 88 Central. In this notice, the investor continued to say: "The implementation time of Project 88 Central, Ha Noi Garden City will be longer than initially expected, the time to sign the official purchase and sale contract of customers may be carried out in the first quarter of 2023, or may be earlier than this plan".
By July 21, 2025, when the project was still not implemented, the investor Berjaya - Handico12 Joint Stock Company had a written response to customers' opinions that "the recent changes in new legal regulations also led to the company having to evaluate and adjust some contents when implementing the project".
However, this document signed by Mr. Tran Thanh Long - Deputy General Director of Berjaya - Handico12 Joint Stock Company did not specify the continued progress of the project but only stated, "we are making efforts to review and evaluate the commitments and progress of the company's project implementation and implementation according to legal documents approved by competent state agencies".
To clarify the incident, Lao Dong Newspaper reporters went to Berjaya - Handico12 Joint Stock Company (Mua Dong Street, Thach Ban New Urban Area, Long Bien Ward, Hanoi City) to contact for work, but so far have not received a response from this company.
More than 5 years have passed, for customers of Project 88 Central, the reality is just a land plot surrounded by corrugated iron that is silent. Savings are "buried", housing plans are unfinished and financial burdens are increasing, while assets formed in the future that they expect still only exist on paper.
Clearly, the prolonged delay of Project 88 Central not only affects the rights of homebuyers but also raises the requirement to clarify the responsibilities of the investor and related parties.
