The elevator used to fall freely
Reporter's records on the afternoon of August 27 showed that of the 2 elevators in the CT1A building, 1 was unusable; The remaining ladder works but every time it moves, it vibrates and makes noise.
Ms. Bui Thi Lien (character who requested a name change, born in 1992) - A worker renting a room at CT1A building (Kim Chung worker housing area, Kim Chung commune, Dong Anh district, Hanoi city) said that she Have nearly 9 years of renting a house in this area.
At first, the elevator had no problems, however, after 2-3 years of use, the elevator began to break continuously. There are times when the machine breaks down in 1 month, 6 months out, or both elevators break down within 2-3 months, the tenant has to walk continuously. Workers went to the Social Housing Development and Management Enterprise to complain, but the leaders said they had to wait for the funding to be approved.
Ms. Lien said that her husband and children were once stuck in an elevator. Until now, every time she steps up the stairs, her family is filled with fear. “The elevator stops working while going up, then we have to call security to unlock the door. A few days ago, the elevator suddenly lost power while it was running, and people were stuck in the elevator for 30 minutes before they could get out. There was also a family using the elevator when it suddenly fell 2-3 floors and then stopped. Although there were no unfortunate incidents, the tenant was very worried every time he stepped on the ladder," Ms. Lien said.
Mr. T - a tenant at the CT1A building said that broken elevators and problems occur frequently. Most recently, on July 7, 2024, around 8:45 p.m., the elevator got stuck when someone was inside. From August 25 until now, a faulty elevator has not been repaired.
In the past, there were times when the ladder broke down for months at a time, forcing the elderly, pregnant women and children to have to climb regularly.
Previously, Lao Dong Newspaper had many articles about the incident where the CT1A building's elevator stopped working, greatly affecting the lives of residents. This situation has occurred since the end of 2021 and continues to this day.
Maintenance is done every year but the ladder is still broken?
Talking to reporters on the afternoon of August 27, Mr. Pham Hoang Hai - Deputy Director of the Social Housing Management and Development Enterprise - said that recently, the Hanoi People's Committee granted 110 million VND to carry out maintenance, maintenance of elevators in buildings in 2024.
Currently, the contractor is conducting periodic maintenance, checking, making statistics of defects, quoting prices of defects for the enterprise to synthesize, report to the company, and propose equipment replacement. Mr. Hai said that the elevator is maintained but not regularly, depending on the city's funding. "Every year the company sets up a maintenance estimate, but whatever level the city grants will carry out maintenance at that level" - Mr. Hai said.
Referring to the frequent breakdown of elevators, greatly affecting people's lives, Mr. Hai said that the cause is due to the old elevator system.
There is also the issue of funding. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang - Chairman of the Trade Union of Hanoi Industrial Parks and Export Processing Zones said that in the Kim Chung commune's workers' housing area, not only the elevator but many other items are also degraded, while the money is low. Due to lack of timely maintenance, it deteriorates further. The union also made recommendations through many channels, in which opinions on this issue were also raised at the dialogue with city leaders. "The Industrial Park Trade Union continues to pay attention, understand and propose to the authorities to completely resolve this situation" - Mr. Thang said.
