LookAtVietnam – Hanoi students are experiencing a housing crisis, with developers failing to address the dearth in accommodation options.

Growing numbers of students are descending upon the capital to hit the books.

Vietnam wants to satisfy 60 per cent of students’ demand for accommodation by 2015. However, the target is facing serious challenges, with this type of property attracting less interest from investors due to limited profits and legal constraints. The target is also being impacted by the growing number of students enrolling at Hanoi institutions each year.

Tran Quoc Tuan, deputy director of Hanoi’s Department of Construction, said local government would select available land to develop student accommodations and ignite interest from private investors.

In Hanoi, there are 800,000 students studying at 126 educational institutions and the number grows by 5 to 8 per cent each year. However, the existing dormitory system can only accommodate 15 to 20 per cent of total students. The rest have to live elsewhere, mostly in poor quality rented rooms in private houses.

Experts estimate that to meet the national 2015 target, Hanoi will need at least 75,000 new rooms with the total floor space of 4.5 million square metres to accommodate 60 per cent of the total of about one million students at that time.

Phi Thai Binh, Hanoi People’s Committee vice chairman, said one of the first steps to realise the target of 75,000 rooms for students would be the construction of dormitories within new urban areas during 2009 with a total cost of VND600 billion ($33 million).

New projects planned to break ground this month include a 3.7 hectare dormitory for 22,000 students in Phap Van-Tu Hiep area in southern Hanoi, a 1.7 hectare dormitory for 8,000 students in My Dinh area in west Hanoi and another dormitory in Dong Mai area in Ha Dong district for about 32,000 students. Extra accommodation for 38,000 students will be built in existing educational institutions.

However, an expert from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUD) said the use of the compulsory 20 per cent of land for social housing in urban areas to build accommodation for students was only a short-term solution, because students needed not only a place to live, but related functions such as libraries, canteens and sport facilities. There needed to be a general plan for student accommodation within large scale educational urban area projects, the expert said.

Dao Van Hai, director of Hanoi National University’s Student Support Centre, said: “The quality of the dormitories is our first priority. They need not just accommodation, but the internet, telephones and hot water for their daily living and studying and places to entertain and play sport for complete physical and intellectual development.”

VietNamNet/VIR