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The Pilot Project: Empowering Investors to Spearhead Social Housing Initiatives Without Bidding Red Tape

26 March, 2025

A rendering of the social housing project at NO1 Ha Dinh urban area (Hanoi) providing 440 affordable apartments, which was just inaugurated in early December 2024. (Photo: VNA)

The investor of this social housing project was assigned by the competent authority without a bidding process.

This is one of the outstanding new points proposed by the Ministry of Construction in the draft Resolution of the National Assembly to pilot a number of mechanisms and policies to promote the development of social housing nationwide. Accordingly, this draft proposes a series of important policies to create a strong impetus for this field.

Recently, at the National Conference on Removing Difficulties and Promoting the Development of Social Housing, chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, many large real estate enterprises across the country also proposed this content.

Viglacera General Director Nguyen Anh Tuan shared that the enterprise is ready to coordinate with organizations to implement scientific and technological measures to produce ready-to-install component sets. This will reduce malfunctions during construction and ensure quality. As a result, it will speed up the investment and construction process, meeting market demands.

“Social housing projects should be directly assigned to capable units to speed up the process because the current procedures take a lot of time. Since the design, price, and customers have been approved, there is no need to bid,” said Mr. Tuan.

Housing for workers. (Photo: Tuan Anh/VNA)

In the draft, the Ministry of Construction proposes that the People’s Committees of the provinces directly assign investors for projects not managed by the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, or the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor. For projects serving the armed forces, the Ministries of Defense and Public Security will be responsible for assigning investors, while the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor will assign investors for projects constructing social housing with the financial resources of the trade union, to serve the housing needs of workers and employees entitled to the policy.

At the same time, to create favorable conditions for businesses, cooperatives, and cooperative alliances in industrial parks, they should be allowed to rent social housing from investors to provide accommodation for their employees.

In addition, to ensure the sustainability and attractiveness of this development model, the draft regulates the maximum profit that investors can earn from the area of social housing construction. It also establishes mechanisms for using state budget and other legal capital sources to support site clearance, invest in technical and social infrastructure systems, thereby promoting the synchronous and effective development of social housing.

In this draft, the Ministry of Construction especially emphasizes the responsibility of the provincial People’s Committees in publicly announcing the list of projects on their electronic information portals, including projects that have been approved in principle but have not yet selected investors, as well as projects in the local housing development program.

Interested investors will register by submitting documents proving their financial capacity, project implementation experience, and commitments on implementation progress, along with proposals related to compensation, support, and resettlement.

Children in Lan Nu Village, Phuc Khanh Commune, Bao Yen District, Lao Cai Province, playing in the new resettlement area. (Photo: Hong Ninh/VNA)

The assignment of investors will be based on the principle of prioritizing investors with extensive experience, strong financial capacity, fast implementation progress, and significant contributions in advance compensation, support, and resettlement.

If, after the time of public announcement of the project list, only one investor registers and meets the conditions, the provincial People’s Committee will directly assign the project to that investor. In case there are many investors interested, the selection will be based on criteria such as experience, financial capacity, implementation progress, and the level of contribution to compensation and support for resettlement, as proposed by the Ministry of Construction.

On the other hand, if there are multiple investors with similar criteria, preference will be given to the investor who registered earlier. For projects with no registered investors during the public announcement period but with interested investors later, the provincial People’s Committee will consider assigning the project to qualified investors…

Another breakthrough point noted in the draft is the proposal to establish a National Social Housing Development Fund. The formation of this fund has also attracted public attention in recent days. According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung, Chairman of the Western Town Union Joint Stock Company, in the context of rising housing prices, especially in provinces and cities with strong development and labor attraction, the issue of immigration and the need for social housing will become more and more urgent.

According to the draft of the Ministry of Construction, this is an extra-budgetary financial fund established by the Government with capital sources from the state budget and other legal sources. The fund will play an important role in directly investing in the formation of a social housing fund, supporting interest rates for loans without requiring collateral, while creating favorable conditions for enterprises to invest in this segment and supporting policy beneficiaries in accessing housing. The mechanism for managing and using the fund will be specified by the Government to ensure efficiency and transparency in operations.

The draft issued by the Ministry of Construction includes a series of important policies to create a strong impetus for the development of social housing. Especially, the establishment of the National Social Housing Development Fund, the mechanism of assigning investors without bidding, simplifying planning and construction procedures, and special preferences for enterprises participating in this development model are expected to bring a large supply to this long- awaited housing segment.

Thu Hang

– 17:29 20/03/2025