The Housing and Urban Development Corporation has begun construction of a social housing project in the northern province of Ha Nam.

Spanning 4.9ha in Duy Tien Town, the project comprises four blocks with 564 apartments and some low-rise houses. The project's apartments will cost at least VND380 million (around US$16,300) each.

During the project's ground-breaking ceremony last week, Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi said the State has always paid attention to developing affordable housing projects in order to address the housing needs of the social assistance beneficiaries and low-income earners.

Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Truong Quoc Huy said the project will better meet the needs for affordable apartments of employees working in Duy Tien Town and Ha Nam Province as well.

The country needed an estimated VND220 trillion ($9.6 billion) to build about 294,600 units of social housing for low-income earners in urban areas and industrial parks in the 2021-25 period, according to the Ministry of Construction.

Notably, low-income people in urban areas needs about 131,100 units with a total investment of about VND138 trillion.

There are 266 social housing projects with more than 142,000 units across the country, totalling more than 7.1 million sq.m. Another 278 projects with 274,000 units and a total area of 13.8 million sq.m are under development. — VNS