The Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Department of Construction wants to increase the average housing area per person to 23.5sqm by 2025 from the current 20.65sqm.

This is part of a housing development programme it has submitted to the municipal People’s Committee for 2021-2025.

For this, the southern Vietnamese city will need nearly 800.9ha for commercial housing and 173.5ha for social housing at a cost respectively of 239.7 and 937.7 trillion dong ($10.6 and 41.6 billion).

In the central districts of 1 and 3, HCMC will develop individual housing in line with local urban planning and design.

The department has called on the two districts to streamline administrative procedures for issuing construction licences.

Old and severely degraded apartment buildings in the two districts will be replaced by 2025, and local authorities will create favourable conditions for developers to do so.

In districts 5, 6, 8, 11, 10, Phu Nhuan, and Tan Binh, and especially 4, Go Vap, Tan Phu, and Binh Thanh, where there is large demand for upgrading and building new individual houses, the city will invest in infrastructure.

In districts 7 and Binh Tan and Thu Duc City, HCMC will invest in infrastructure near industrial parks and clusters and call on the private sector to build rental housing for workers.

Housing projects under construction will be speeded up, and new houses and apartment buildings along major public transport axes and areas with good technical infrastructure will get construction priority.

The city will encourage investment by developers in five social housing projects with 3,955 apartments in districts 7 and Binh Tan and five more with 4,352 apartments in Thu Duc City.

In the outlying districts of Binh Chanh, Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Nha Be and Can Gio, it will review land use to ensure it meets housing demand there.

VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK