Hanoi to move residents from crumbling condos

As per a plan issued recently by Hanoi People’s Committee, all residents of the six condos must be relocated by March, and work to demolish, renovate and rebuild them be finished within this year.

The projects include four in Ba Dinh District, which are the C8 Giang Vo condo built in 1975-1980, G6A built in 1987, Ngoc Khanh built in 1985, and the apartment block of the Ministry of Justice built in 1990.

The two remaining condo projects were built before 1954. They are at 51 Huynh Thuc Khang Street in Dong Da District, and 148-150 Son Tay Street in Ba Dinh.

According to the municipal Department of Construction, some families have refused to move despite being aware of the danger.

In many cases, they said they have lived there for decades and do not want to change, especially because of the location in downtown Ba Dinh District.

If they agree with the relocation plan, they would be resettled in other residential areas far from the city’s center, which is much less convenient. In other cases, some do not agree with the compensation.

The city had 1,579 apartment buildings that are 40 years or older. Of these, 179 are classified “dangerous” or “severely damaged”. Most were built between 1960 and 1994, and some before 1954, when Vietnam achieved independence from the French.

These apartments are severely degraded and get flooded often. They also have a poor fire protection system and no parking space.

A renovation plan was set out by Hanoi more than 20 years ago with the goal of taking down all old apartments by 2015. However, only 19 apartments have been upgraded or rebuilt and work remains ongoing at 14 others.

Five years ago, 19 investors registered to renovate 30 apartment buildings. So far, things have only reached the first and second blueprint stage. Some enterprises have also withdrawn from the renovation project.

There have been many other meetings on this issue since, but no significant change has occurred.

The city has targeted to basically finish renovating and rebuilding all old, downgraded condo projects but until now, only 19 have been completed while 14 remain in progress.