Speed up the progress of social housing implementation
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, from 2021 to present, Ho Chi Minh City has completed and put into use 5 social housing projects with 2,377 units, 1 worker accommodation project (partly completed) with 368 units. Currently, the city is constructing 4 projects with a total scale of 2,874 apartments, including 3 social housing projects and 1 worker accommodation project.
In 2025, Ho Chi Minh City plans to have 4 completed projects with 3,000 apartments and 8 projects started with a scale of 7,945 apartments. Thus, in the period of 2021 - 2025, the city plans to complete and put into use 8 social housing projects and 1 worker accommodation project.
Along with promoting investment promotion, Ho Chi Minh City is working with 11 enterprises and the Labor Federation to promote the development of social housing. Currently, businesses have registered to invest in 40,000 social housing apartments. At the same time, the city also plans to organize bidding to select investors to implement the project on 3 land plots managed by the state, with a total scale of 3,000 apartments.
Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Bui Xuan Cuong recently chaired a meeting on social housing. At this meeting, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee requested relevant departments and branches to take quick measures to handle backlogs and difficulties in social housing projects.
For 953 apartments in Vinh Loc B residential area (Binh Chanh district), the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has assigned the Department of Construction to urgently review the dossier and implement the instructions of the leaders of the City People's Committee. At the same time, the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation is also required to coordinate and have documents proposing the procedures for assigning the receiving agency to manage assets and the operating unit after the project is completed.
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee also assigned the Department of Planning and Architecture to review 8 land plots planned to build social housing, to ensure that these land plots are in accordance with the planning. If any adjustment is necessary, relevant agencies will propose to develop social housing more effectively.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is assigned to be responsible for reviewing the legal status of land plots and ensuring the implementation of social housing projects in accordance with the provisions of law. The Department of Construction will continue to coordinate with investors participating in social housing projects, make a list and report to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to resolve difficulties.
Enterprises need more incentive mechanisms
Talking to Lao Dong reporter, many businesses expressed their desire to participate more in the social housing sector, but also shared that the State "calls but has not yet opened a path" for them to participate.
Experts assess that the social housing segment is facing 5 "bottlenecks" including land fund, procedures, mechanisms, interest rates and market output, leading to many difficulties in implementation. Currently, although the implementation procedures have been somewhat "untied", there are still mechanisms, each locality implements a different approach, the approval documents are complicated and prolonged, discouraging businesses.
Many businesses said that the mechanism for social housing businesses is to hand over clean land and exempt land use fees. But in reality, having a clean land fund is very difficult, even if investors want to proactively clear the land by the State, they are stuck in procedures according to the consultation process - like a "vingving room" that prolongs the project implementation time, causing costs for businesses.
The fact that many localities have not properly arranged this land fund is also one of the reasons for the delay in implementing social housing projects. Current preferential policies of the State have not yet encouraged and attracted investors to participate in developing social housing, and capital for developing social housing is also a major problem.
Mr. Le Hoang Chau - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA) commented that to implement the Program to develop at least 1 million social housing apartments nationwide in the period of 2021-2030, about 1,000 projects are needed, each project has an average scale of 1,000 apartments. This figure does not include projects expected to be implemented after 2030.
Mr. Chau emphasized the need to reform administrative procedures in a streamlined and centralized manner, in which the provincial housing management agency is assigned to preside over and be responsible for implementing the procedures for "approval of investment policies, adjustment of investment policies" without having to comply with the provisions of the Investment Law, for cases where investors have land use rights or reach agreements to receive land use rights to implement social housing projects.
With a very large number of social housing projects, equivalent to about 2,500 old apartment buildings nationwide that need to be renovated and rebuilt, Mr. Chau proposed applying the same mechanism and procedures as for projects to renovate old apartments.
This not only helps shorten the time for administrative procedures, but also speeds up the project implementation progress, creating conditions for people to soon have stable housing.
