Tombs for the rich which are built like villas are appearing in Hanoi after the city allowed private investors to develop cemeteries.

US$83.3 million to build cemetery-park

A tomb which is under construction in Vinh Hang cemetery.

Vinh Hang cemetery in Ba Vi district is the first cemetery built by a private company, the Ao Vua Joint Stock Company. Located in a 20 hectare hill, the cemetery is the home to tombs which are cost hundreds of thousand US dollars. Some looks like villas while several look like pagodas.

At public cemeteries in Hanoi, tombs are built just 40cm from each other. Tombs in Vinh Hang Cemetery have their campus with trees, grass, gates, walls, etc. like villas.

Everyday Vinh Hang cemetery welcomes many people who come to seek for information about land prices here. Ms. Tuyet from Ly Thuong Kiet Street, said her parents are still healthy but they still asked her to buy land at a cemetery.

“Land is getting expensive so they felt unsecured. I visited the city’s public cemetery but it was very crowded so I will buy a piece of land at this cemetery [Vinh Hang] for them,” Tuyet said.

Vinh Hang cemetery’s manager Nguyen Van Quang said this cemetery opened in 2003 with a total area of 20 hectares but it has been fully recovered. The price for a once-buried tomb (1×2m) is 18 million dong and 11 million dong for a tomb which will be exhumed. The land buyers have full right to use the land.

The sketch of a family cemetery in Ky Son - Lac Hong Vien Cemetery.

Customers often buy 100-200sq.m of land at this cemetery, worth from 300-500 million dong ($15,800-26,000) and spend hundreds of million dong or up to billions to build tombs.

Local people said that the prices for land for the death are higher than the price for land for the living.

“Vinh Hang Cemetery is fully covered but many people still want to buy land here so we will expand the cemetery by 16 hectares. We will continue selling land in the cemetery later this year,” Quang said.

Many other private cemetery-parks are undergone in Hanoi, such as Thien Duong (Heaven) in Soc Son district, Yen Ky and Ky Son-Lac Hong Vien in Hoa Binh. These cemeteries are open for all deaths while public cemeteries only welcome the deaths who are Hanoi citizens.

It is worried that in the future, as all cemeteries are built by private investors, it will be difficult for low-income earners to find a last resting place.

PV