Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The important task ofrenovating and rebuilding dilapidated apartment buildings in Hanoi has facedseveral obstacles related to planning, land clearance, and profits forinvestors and residents, Ha Noi Moi (New Hanoi) newspaper hasreported.

According to the Ministry of Construction, Hanoi has morethan 1,500 old apartment buildings constructed between 1960 and 1990, most ofwhich are located in the city’s inner districts.

Ten years after beginning renovation work on old apartmentbuildings, the city has renovated and put into use 14 of over 1,500 oldbuildings.

Five buildings are being demolished. Residents of four otherbuildings in an extremely poor condition have been evacuated, however, thereare not yet any plans to rebuild or renovate the structures.

City authorities are calling for investment from the privatesector to reduce pressure on the State budget.

The city has called for private investment in 28 buildings.So far, 16 investors have registered to take part in constructing such buildings.
However, according to investors, a number of regulations arenot suitable with reality.

According to Tong Thi Hanh, head of the Legal Department atthe Ministry of Construction, a decree which took effect in 2015 requires thatthe newly-constructed building’s height and number of tenants must be the sameas the old one. On the other hand, investors say that the new building musthave an area three times larger than the old one and be 15 to 18 floors higherin order to offset the capital they spend on construction.

Deputy Minister of Construction Le Quang Hung said thatregulations must create favorable conditions to allow investors to increase theheight of buildings in suitable places.

Architect Truong Van Quang from the Vietnam Urban Planningand Development Association proposed removing the regulation which requires thenew building to be the same size as the previous one.

The new buildings can be multi-functional to keep up with newurban development trends, he said.

To accelerate the work of renovating and rebuilding oldapartment buildings in the city, he said that mechanisms related to landcompensation, investor selection and resettlement must be further completed.

The benefits for each side (investors and residents) shouldalso be clarified, he said.

He proposed the city or province-level People’s Committee begranted the right to select investors which are able to mobilise fundingthemselves besides State investment and projects under the Build-Transfermodel.-VNS/VNA