Vietnam's city authorities need to rethink their approach to aging apartment buildings and work out a rebuilding and renovation plan to ensure thousands of residents have safe homes and the buildings were attractive to investors, the head of the HCM City Real Estate Association said.
Old, dangerous buildings in HCM City
The association said the city has at least 530 buildings needed to be renovated or demolished.
Thousands of households live in fear of building collapse. They endure leaking roofs, and water seepage is causing walls and stairwells to fail.
Many of the apartments, some dating back to the early 1960s, are too small and families have to cook in the hallways, creating potential fire hazards, and wet clothes hang on outside lines dangerously close to electricity cables.
HCM City authorities plan to demolish 70 apartment buildings and rebuild 61. But progress is slow and has fallen behind the pressure of urban development and fail to meet the needs of existing residents.
Cooking in hallways
Le Hoang Chau, head of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said, "We should socialise the cost and find ways to attract more investors to speed up replacing dangerous apartment buildings."
Chau said current policies and regulations copied old plans, which were no longer realistic and were unattractive to investors because they were inflexible.
