The Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture has introduced three sites for building large-scale residential areas for the resettlement of 19,000 households in Tu Liem, Hoai Duc and Thanh Tri districts.

The department has also researched the building of resettlement apartment blocks in the districts of Dong Anh, Gia Lam and the southwestern area of universities in Tu Liem district. Each residential area would be at least 50 hectares.

Nguyen Quoc Tuan, deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Construction, said that since the capital was expanded in August 2008, the number of projects related to site clearance has increased by three times.

According to Tuan, with around 1000 planned projects, nearly 186,000 families and offices will have to be moved and 19,000 families resettled. To serve these projects, Hanoi needs around 5000 apartments for resettlement a year.

The capital city is carrying out many key projects to celebrate the 1000^th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi, for instance belt road No. 1 (O Cho Dua – Cau Giay), belt road No. 2, Nhat Tan Bridge, Capital Youth Park and the Cat Linh – Ha Dong urban railway.

Moreover, a project to rebuild outdated apartment blocks in the city will require an additional 1000 apartments for resettlement annually.

However, the local Department of Construction said that the construction pace of buildings for resettlement is slow, typical examples being the resettlement projects of Canh Dong Mo, Ha Dinh, Kim Giang, Phap Van Tu Hiep and Nam Trung Yen. The shortage of houses for resettlement has hindered the implementation of many site-clearance projects.

The Construction Department has asked Hanoi authorities to tell investors of resettlement apartment projects to speed up their projects otherwise they will be transferred to other investors.

Tuan said that the Construction Department has proposed that the local government diversify the forms of resettlement, such as encouraging people to take money and buy houses themselves.

VietNamNet/VNE