Trillion-VND urban area sparsely populated
According to the reporter of Lao Dong Newspaper, in Picenza Riverside Son La Urban Area (Chieng An ward), many infrastructure items have been basically completed, but residents still come to live very little.
Many rows of villas and townhouses are closed, gates are locked for a long time. Some houses have been completed but no one lives there; rough-built houses left for a long time have peeling walls, rusty iron doors, and grass growing around the premises.
The project has a scale of more than 22 hectares, with a total investment of nearly 1,000 billion VND, including land plots, townhouses, shophouses, villas and parks, sports areas, services and commercial centers.
However, in many areas, the inner roads are wide, fully lit but deserted. Empty land is located interspersed among rows of houses, with weeds growing lushly.
Some amusement parks, seats and sports equipment are rarely used, showing signs of fading and damage. Sidewalks and manhole covers in some locations also show signs of degradation.
Notably, land plot transactions, townhouses and villas in urban areas have been recorded quietly for many years. Many products continue to hang signs of transfer and lease for a long time.
Ms. Bui Thu Ha, a real estate broker in Son La, said that customers who bought real estate in this area in the past were mainly investors, while real housing demand was not high.
Many people buy to wait for price increases. But in recent years, the market has been quiet, with low liquidity. Some lots are advertised for sale for a long time, and prices are reduced compared to when they were bought, but it is still difficult to find people to ask," Ms. Ha said.
The filling problem is still open
According to Mr. Cao Van Tuy, Deputy Director of the project, the current transaction volume is low compared to the project scale. Out of more than 200 land plots, only a small part has been sold. For townhouses, villas and shophouses, each row also has only a few units purchased by customers.
Meanwhile, the project still has to maintain protection, lighting, green tree care and technical infrastructure. Operating costs arise frequently, but the slow product consumption rate makes it difficult to recover capital to continue investing.
The situation of few residents also makes it difficult for commercial and service activities to develop. When there is a lack of essential stores and services, urban areas are even more difficult to attract buyers to live in. This vicious circle makes the project filling rate slow.
Mr. Le Thanh Minh (name changed), residing in Chieng Sinh ward, said that about 4 years ago, the price of a land plot here was more than 1.5 billion VND, so his family did not have enough ability to buy it. Recently, when the price decreased, he decided to buy it to build a long-term house.
My family bought it to live in. Hopefully in the future, more households will come to live, then the urban area will be more crowded and convenient," Mr. Minh said.
The reality at Picenza Riverside Son La shows that synchronous infrastructure is not enough to create a vibrant urban area. The value of a urban area is only truly promoted when residents, commerce and services operate regularly.
With an area of more than 22 hectares and an investment capital of nearly 1,000 billion VND, slow filling not only affects the efficiency of land fund exploitation but also puts the invested items at risk of degradation if they continue to be used less.
The problem of Picenza Riverside Son La is therefore not simply selling more land plots or houses. More importantly, how to turn the roads, rows of houses and infrastructure that have been invested into a truly bustling space with services and urban activities.
