Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs the meeting to address difficulties and promote the development of social housing on the evening of May 17 – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac |
Also attending the meeting were Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Tran Van Son, Governor of the State Bank Nguyen Thi Hong, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc, Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh, President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour Nguyen Dinh Khang, and leaders of ministries, sectors, and central agencies.
According to reports and opinions at the meeting, the Government and the Prime Minister have paid great attention to the implementation of the Project to build at least 1 million social housing units, issuing 40 documents related to the implementation of the Project, including 14 documents on credit alone.
Ministries, sectors, agencies, and localities have made efforts to implement the Project and the conclusions of the Prime Minister at the conference on removing difficulties and promoting the development of social housing on March 16, 2024 (according to the Government Office’s Announcement 123 dated March 27, 2024).
Ministries are in the process of building and perfecting 14 decrees guiding the Laws on Land, Housing, and Real Estate Business, including a decree detailing a number of articles of the Housing Law on the development and management of social housing.
Regarding the results of the implementation of social housing projects in the period from 2021 up to now, according to reports from localities, there are 503 social housing projects deployed nationwide with a scale of 418,200 apartments (an increase of 4 projects and 6,950 apartments compared to the report on March 15, 2024).
Of these, the number of completed projects is 75 with a scale of 39,884 apartments (an increase of 3 projects and 1,756 apartments compared to the report on March 15, 2024). The number of projects that have started construction is 128 with a scale of 115,379 apartments.
The number of projects that have been approved in principle for investment is 300 with a scale of 262,937 apartments (including 4 new projects with 5,919 apartments).
Regarding the support capital source of VND 120,000 billion according to Resolution No. 33/NQ-CP dated March 11, 2023 of the Government, the Ministry of Construction has reformed administrative procedures, rectified and streamlined the conditions for investors of social housing projects to be able to borrow from the capital source of VND 120,000 billion.
|
 
|
Leaders of ministries and sectors speak at the meeting – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac |
At present, in addition to the four state-owned commercial banks (BIDV, Vietinbank, Agribank, and Vietcombank), TPBank and VPBank have also registered to participate in the program with a registered amount of VND 5,000 billion each.
Up to now, 30/63 Provincial People’s Committees have sent documents or announced on the electronic information portals about the list of projects participating in the program with 72 projects. Some provinces have announced many projects, including Hanoi (6 projects), Ho Chi Minh City (6 projects), Bac Ninh (6 projects), and Binh Dinh (5 projects)…
By now, commercial banks have disbursed VND 1,144 billion, including VND 1,133 billion for investors of 11 projects and VND 11 billion for home buyers in 4 projects.
However, many large provinces and cities with many industrial parks such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, Can Tho, and Long An have a low rate of social housing implementation compared to the target of the Project. The disbursement of the VND 120,000 billion credit package for social housing is still slow. Enterprises investing in social housing face difficulties in accessing land.
Speaking at the conclusion of the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the development of social housing is a very humane policy of the Party and the State, which is of great significance, contributing to concretizing and institutionalizing the Party’s guidelines on social security, not sacrificing progress, equality, and social security for the sake of economic growth alone, with the consistent view of putting people at the center, as the subject, the goal, the driving force and the resource of development, leaving no one behind.
Developing social housing also contributes to promoting economic growth, supporting people in difficult circumstances, especially young families, newly married couples, and workers in industrial parks and big cities, helping to resolve social concerns.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha speaks at the meeting – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
|
Ministries and sectors have actively participated, but in the past time, they have had to solve, build, and perfect a series of legal bases related to this issue. Up to now, the agencies have submitted to the National Assembly for the issuance of laws (Land Law, Housing Law, Real Estate Business Law, and Credit Institution Law), which have basically removed bottlenecks and difficulties in procedures and land for social housing. The issue now is to soon put these regulations into life.
Along with that, it is necessary to diversify the resources for social housing development, including resources from the State, people, and society, and credit institutions (including state-owned commercial banks and non-state-owned banks) to support both sellers and buyers. Localities must be more determined and proactive with specific programs, plans, and projects. Procedures and conditions for borrowers to invest in social housing and for buyers, tenants, and rent-to-buyers must be simpler.
Regarding specific tasks, with the requirements of higher determination and stronger, more positive, suitable, and effective solutions, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Ministry of Construction to urgently coordinate with each other so that the Government can report to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to include in the program. Building laws and ordinances in 2024, submitting to the National Assembly to decide on the issuance of a resolution allowing the Land Law, Housing Law, and Real Estate Business Law to take effect early from July 1, 2024, and early application of regulations on preferential policies for social housing projects (Housing Law), right to mortgage assets, and land use rights of social housing projects (Land Law).
The Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the State Bank focus on and prioritize the construction and promulgation of decrees guiding the laws related to social housing in the spirit of reducing administrative procedures, increasing decentralization and delegation of power, reducing the time and cost of implementing social housing projects, avoiding inconvenience and harassment of people and businesses.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall review the 20% land fund for social housing.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh assigns tasks to ministries, sectors, and localities – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
|
The Ministry of Construction shall take the lead, regularly urge, and coordinate with ministries, sectors, and localities to monitor the implementation of the Project to build at least 1 million social housing units and the tasks assigned by the Prime Minister at Announcement 123; periodically report to the Prime Minister on the results, focusing on urging localities to implement the 2024 social housing construction target that has been synthesized, announced, reviewed, and compiled data on the implementation of the Project as a basis for direction, urging, and monitoring; review and complete policies on renting, rent-to-buy, and buying, promoting the experience in implementing the VND 30,000 billion credit package before; guide localities to build housing strategies; soon perfect the investment procedure for social housing projects, promulgate according to competence or submit for promulgation, in which to study the implementation of procedures, and issuance of standards and uniform procedures for localities nationwide; study on converting the use purpose of houses in resettlement areas that have not been used into social housing.
The State Bank shall be responsible for arranging credit for both buyers and sellers, urgently directing large state-owned commercial banks to join hands with enterprises to research, build, and provide credit packages for buyers, expand credit packages, extend the loan term to 10-15 years, with preferential interest rates 3-5% lower than normal commercial loans; take the lead in coordinating with ministries and branches to guide commercial banks to create favorable conditions for enterprises to mortgage and borrow capital to implement social housing projects more simply and conveniently.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take the lead in coordinating with the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank to soon report to the Prime Minister on supplementing the State budget capital source for lending for social housing through the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies in the period of 2024-2025.
The Ministry of Finance shall study and propose the establishment of a Fund for Social Housing before June 30, 2024, and guide localities to issue bonds for social housing.
The Party committees, authorities, and localities must have higher determination and greater efforts and proactiveness, especially the centrally-run cities, provinces with strong industrial development, and a large number of workers with high demand for social housing. Localities urgently focus on making social housing planning, selecting investors, approving buyers, and approving selling prices. These procedures must be done quickly and conveniently; review and supplement urban planning and industrial park planning, reserve enough land fund for social housing; coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to issue bonds for social housing.
The Prime Minister also requested enterprises and project investors to make progress, prepare adequate financial resources, apply new technologies, and shorten construction time; publicly announce project information for people to know. Communications agencies focus on propagating mechanisms, policies, and administrative procedures and commending and encouraging good models and good practices.
Ha Van
