For several days, more than 20 houses and rented rooms in Alley 11 on Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Street, Noi Hoa 1 neighbourhood, Dong Hoa Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, have shown signs of wall cracks and subsidence, forcing many residents to move elsewhere over safety fears.
Residents said the damage began to appear at the same time as construction started on the Binh An Dong Tay apartment project, also known as Bcons Center City. The site is only 2-3 metres from the row of homes.
Nguyen Thi Hoang Oanh, owner of house number 11/19, said cracks began appearing around April on bedroom walls, the staircase and the front pillar of the house. Rainwater from the gutter then seeped through the wall, ran into electrical sockets and spread across the wooden bedroom floor on the ground level, causing the flooring to warp and deteriorate.
After discovering the damage, Oanh informed the contractor and local authorities, who came to inspect the site.
A cracked wall leaves a visible gap (Photo: Xuan Doan).
Following the complaint, the Dong Hoa Ward Department of Economy, Infrastructure and Urban Affairs inspected the site and drew up a report.
According to an assessment report by Vina Pacific Appraisal Joint Stock Company, or Vico, Oanh's house had multiple cracks in the living room and bedroom walls and on the staircase. The front yard floor had cracked and subsided, doors could no longer close properly, and the wooden flooring had lifted and become damp and mouldy. The assessor concluded that the damage was caused by excavation for the project's basement works.
A few metres away, the home of Huynh Thi Tuong Vy was more seriously affected, with two living room walls developing long cracks running from floor to ceiling.
Vico's assessment also found that the cracks in Vy's house were caused by excavation for the basement construction.
"Construction staff who came to inspect were also shocked by how severe the cracking was and urged my family to move out quickly," Vy said.
The living room wall in Vy's house is cracked (Photo: Xuan Doan).
Vy said the contractor had offered two support options: temporary accommodation in a Bcons apartment near the project, or VND 6 million (USD 231), a month for the family to rent elsewhere.
However, she said neither option was suitable. Her family earns a living supplying food to schools, making apartment living highly inconvenient, while the support offered was not enough to rent an entire house.
"I sell food to schools. If we live in an apartment, cooking and then transporting goods from the flat down to the basement car park would be very inconvenient. Renting a whole house outside typically costs VND 10-12 million (USD 385-462), a month, which is above the support level," Vy said.
Many households forced to move out
More than 20 houses and rented rooms in Alley 11 on Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Street had been affected. Many households have temporarily moved elsewhere over safety concerns.
Not only private homes but also several rows of rented rooms have been left vacant as tenants moved out one by one.
Dang Thi Lien, owner of house number 11/31, said her family had six rooms for rent at VND 1.2 million (USD 46), a month each. Over the past three months, all tenants had moved out after cracks appeared in the walls and tiles came loose.
One of Lien's rented rooms has loose tiles and cracked walls, forcing the tenant to leave (Photo: Xuan Doan).
After inspections and negotiations, the contractor compensated Lien for lost rental income in June and July.
Several other families have also locked up their homes and moved to temporary accommodation. Some were placed in apartments arranged by Bcons, while others rented homes themselves and received support from the contractor.
Ly, 47, from An Giang Province, rents a room of nearly 20 square metres with her husband and two children for VND 3 million (USD 115), a month. The landlord told the family they had to move out because the room showed signs of becoming unsafe. However, as they had not yet found suitable accommodation, Ly asked to stay a few more days while searching for a new place.
Many families have shut their doors and moved elsewhere temporarily over safety fears (Photo: Xuan Doan).
Speaking to Dantri/Dtinews, a representative of the Dong Hoa Ward People's Committee confirmed that the authorities had received complaints, inspected the site and summoned the developer and contractor for discussions. The authorities required the developer and contractor to promptly deal with any incidents and take measures to ensure the safety of neighbouring structures.
"As the project falls under the authority of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, the locality has asked Bcons to submit a report to the department on the incident and proposed handling measures," the Dong Hoa Ward People's Committee representative said.
Bcons Investment Construction Joint Stock Company said it had assigned technical staff to work with specialist units to survey the site, monitor the cracks regularly and provide temporary accommodation and rental support for affected households. The company also said all agreed support costs for each household were being paid by Bcons.
However, when asked whether the house cracks had been caused by construction activity at the Bcons Center City project, the company did not provide an answer.
Asked whether it had reported the case to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction as requested by local authorities, a Bcons representative said the parties were still in discussions at the Dong Hoa Ward People's Committee and did not directly answer the question.