The Struggles of the People Inside
For many years, Binh Duong has been one of the provinces in the Southeast region of Vietnam that focuses on industrial, commercial, and service development. A series of large industrial parks and factories from all over the country have flocked to this province, attracting a large labor force from other provinces to work here. Alongside the employment situation, the demand for housing and living environment of the people and workers in Binh Duong province is one of the essential things.
Despite their low income, the devoted workers in this province still dream of buying a social housing for low and middle-income people.
The demand for housing of workers and people in Binh Duong province is increasing.
Sharing with Doi Song va Phap Luat, Mr. Pham Trung Dung from Thuan An City, Binh Duong province, who is working in VSIP 1 Industrial Park, said: “My family has been working here for over 8 years. We have saved some money and are looking to buy a social housing for settlement. However, there have been no new social housing projects in Thuan An for many years. Buying existing completed projects is very expensive, and we have to pay in full. My family has prepared all the necessary documents, we are just waiting for the authorities in Thu Dau Mot City to accept the files for submission so that we can transfer our work there. As long as we can get a house and change our living environment, we will be happy,” said Mr. Dung.
Sharing the same situation, Mr. Nguyen Cong Tam from Phu Tan Ward, Thu Dau Mot City said: “Currently, there are many social housing projects in Thu Dau Mot City that have been put into operation. In the past, I dared not buy because I thought it would be difficult. But now I see that the area is well-built and the living conditions are safe and clean, so I decided to buy a social housing for settlement. Currently, if we buy an existing project, the price is quite high, so I am waiting for new projects. During this time, I will save money so that I don’t have to worry about monthly payments later on.”
Efforts to Develop Social Housing
With over 1 million workers working in the province, Binh Duong is one of the provinces with a high demand for settlement. However, the development of social housing in this province is still facing many difficulties, despite the delivery of many social housing projects to the people, the supply is still inadequate.
One reason is that there are still many difficulties and limitations in the development of social housing projects. According to regulations, social housing projects are exempt from land use fees but still have to go through the procedure of calculating land use fees in order to enjoy the exemption.
Accelerating the Construction of Social Housing to Meet Housing Demand
Mr. Vo Hoang Ngan, Director of the Department of Construction of Binh Duong province, said that the Department is currently implementing the “Development Plan for Social Housing and Workers’ Housing in the period of 2021-2025, with an orientation to 2030”.
Accordingly, Binh Duong province will invest in about 172,000 social housing units, providing housing for about 678,300 people, which is twice the target set by the Government. To achieve this, Binh Duong province prioritizes allocating land funds for investors to build social housing projects. Currently, there are 23 land plots managed by state-owned enterprises, 17 plots with an area of 170 hectares have available land funds for proposed social housing development.
Mr. Pham Ngoc Thuan, CEO of Becamex IDC, said: “After 10 years of implementing social housing projects in many localities such as Thu An City, Thu Dau Mot City, Ben Cat Town, Bau Bang District, the initial Becamex social housing project had a scale of 65,000 units, with 47,500 units completed, achieving 74% of the project plan. Currently, Becamex IDC is continuing the next phase of the project with a total of 118,234 social housing units, providing housing opportunities for workers. Besides completing internal infrastructure, Becamex social housing projects are all connected to important transportation routes in the area, with public bus routes to serve the transportation needs of social housing residents.”
According to Mr. Thuan, currently, in order to facilitate the purchase of social housing by people, workers, and low-income earners, Becamex is considering various options to reduce the selling price to be affordable for the people. In addition, the company also supports by partnering with banks to help workers access preferential loan packages and pay in installments over a long period of time.
At the Seminar on the Draft “Development Plan for Social Housing and Workers’ Housing in Binh Duong province for the period of 2021-2025, with an orientation to 2030”, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Thao, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, said that addressing the housing needs of the people, especially workers, is always one of the province’s key tasks. Binh Duong province has become a bright spot in the country in solving housing for workers, many workers have decent, clean living places at reasonable prices with the help of the State. Up to now, Binh Duong province has built more than 50,000 social housing units.
Mr. Thao said that the province will design a flexible social housing model with various types of products, suitable selling prices ranging from 120 – 280 million VND per unit, or higher-end types with prices ranging from 200 – 500 million VND per unit, or for rent at 750,000 VND per month per unit.
