LookAtVietnam – A two-week inspection on the quality of 34 new urban areas is being conducted, focusing on those built for resettlement purposes.

The Nam Trung Yen New Urban Area in Cau Giay District. This is one of 34 new urban area projects being checked by local authorities for the quality of technical and social infrastructure.

“The team, in co-operation with local authorities and investors, will meticulously carry out field work and compare their ongoing progress with the declaration in the initial investment plans.”

According to Binh, the authorities had received many complaints from residents about poor infrastructure. “Social infrastructure must be in synch with technical infrastructure for better living conditions of residents,” he said.

The Nam Trung Yen New Urban Area in Cau Giay District, for example, was built up to resettle 2,000 people who had been affected by site clearance on the Kim Lien – O Cho Dua route. However, local residents had witnessed many downgrades.

Resident Tran Quang Huy said, “Cracks began to appear on my wall as well as on other neighbours’ walls, and many sluice gates were not properly installed. But worst of all is that there are no markets in the area.”

“We have had our complaints delivered to the management board, but there have been no responses. So the unauthorised markets that have been criticised were inevitable,” said Huy.

Markets were just one of many basic infrastructures that project investors should have completed. Others included schools, hospitals and entertainment centres.

In the Viet Hung New Urban Area in Long Bien District, there were dozens of high-rise apartment buildings that were home to thousands of households, but no local market save for a mini-supermarket.

And there was no primary or secondary schools for children inside the area, so parents had to send their kids to faraway schools.

Do Tu Lan, deputy director of the Urban Development Department under the Ministry of Construction, said, “The new urban areas are supposed to complete basic infrastructure before letting residents in. However, the reality is that investors let in residents before completing supplementary sections.”

The reasoning, according to Lan, was that investors were chasing profits, as the demand for apartments exceeded the supply, so they managed to bring apartments into business as soon as possible. In addition, the relevant laws to ensure the quality of the projects were not strong enough.

During this inspection, Tu Liem District had the largest number of projects to be checked (10), because urbanisation at this area was particularly rapid, said Vice Chairman Binh.

Also at this time, the inspection team will try to thoroughly solve problems related to granting red books for land-use right and home ownership certificates to residents in new urban area buildings.

Binh said, “The tardiness may be due to administrative procedures, or residents themselves, or investors failure to complete the required documents. Whatever the reason is, the municipal authorities are determined to completely solve it.”

The final report was expected by December 25 for further moves by municipal authorities.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News