HCM CITY (VNS) — Construction on the first social housing project in the southern province of Dong Nai has begun in Nhon Trach Industrial Park.
Work on the apartments, parks, private roads and public facilities, started last week, is expected to be completed in eight years.
The Viet Nam Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation (IDICO) under the Construction Ministry invested VND758 billion (US$36.3 million) in the project.
The 100,000sq.m complex will have 27 five-storey buildings with a total of 3,491 apartments for employees at the industrial park.
Each apartment, with an area of 30 – 65sq.m, will offer affordable prices. A 36sq.m apartment will sell for about VND180 million ($8,600).
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Construction Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said a large number of workers at industrial parks faced a lack of housing.
Two million workers are employed at industrial parks but only 20 per cent of them have housing.
IDICO, which manages 17 industrial parks with hundreds of workers, targets building more than 20,000 apartments in the provinces of Dong Nai, Long An, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and HCM City by 2020.
By 2015, the country is expected to have 6.2 million labourers working in industrial parks, and 7.2 million by 2020.
Investors have shown little interest in social-housing projects because of low profits, according to Dung.
To address the issue, a decree from the Ministry of Construction will be submitted to the Government to propose incentives for businesses to develop social housing.
Dinh Quoc Thai, chairman of Dong Nai Province People's Committee, said this was the first project under a programme to develop housing for low-income residents in the province.
The province, which has more than 400,000 workers, plans to build 40,000 apartments for workers by 2015.
The social-housing project will be a model for others expected to be developed soon.
Nguyen Van Dat, director of IDICO, said a housing fund would be set up for workers in Nhon Trach Industrial Park. This would also help the province attract investment. — VNS