Lack of homes for resettlement
Nguyen Van Khoi, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee said at a recent meeting on the issue that the city is lacking homes for resettlement and the shortage is only becoming more serious.
“At both the city and national level, projects are in desperate need of a large number of homes for resettlement projects. Belt road projects need a total of 12,800 resettlement houses,” Khoi shared.
According to the municipal Department of Construction, the city’s available houses will increase to a total of 3,257 this year, while the demand may climb to 6,500.
The department attributed the stagnation of resettlement projects mainly to a shortfall in capital.
The department noted that, in Cau Giay District, three resettlement projects have been forced to increase investments from original estimates, while at least one more is seeking approval to do so.
Meanwhile, many construction project investors haven’t complied to the regulations that require 20% of the project’s land fund for the construction of resettlement areas. This only adds to the shortage, said Nguyen Quoc Tuan, the department’s Deputy Director Nguyen.
In addition, site clearance at numerous projects, such as Thanh Pho Giao Luu and Tu Hiep urban areas, have been behind schedule, Tuan said.
Fixing the problem
In order to improve the situation, the municipal Department of Construction insisted on maintaining the rate of 20% of land funds of construction projects to be dedicated to resettlement.
The department has sought approval from the the municipal government to use housing of projects, which are over one year behind schedule, for urgent projects to meet the demand for resettlement.
Another solution proposed is to give residents who live in areas where there are projects that force resettlement money, instead of actual land. Yet there are still other means on the table, such as buying housing in new urban areas and BT (Build-Transfer) projects for resettlement.
Nguyen Van Khoi requested investors to make detailed reports on the total accumulated investment by the end of 2011, capital demand for 2012, an appraisal of their housing funds as well as the challenges they will face for implementing their plans.
Local authorities should work with investors to use advanced capital for the construction of resettlement housing, Khoi suggested.
He added that the municipal Department of Construction, in coordination with the city’s Department of Planning and Investment and the Department of Finance will need to work on clearer policies on the acquisition of resettlement homes for investors.
Source : dtinews.vn