Eliminating low-rise buildings in Hanoi, a good idea but almost impossible to do

Giving opinions on the draft “Orientation for planning Hanoi Capital for the period 2021-2030, vision to 2050”, the group of experts including Dr. Chu Manh Hung (Party Secretary of Hanoi Law University) and Dr. Do Xuan Trong (Deputy Head of the Department of Land Law) proposed to eliminate low-rise houses (individual houses in civil areas, townhouses, subdivisions, land for sale) in the core area of the Capital and build a system of modern multi-storey houses.

According to a group of experts from the University of Law, eliminating low-rise buildings in the urban core will both improve land use efficiency, meet people's housing needs, and expand the infrastructure system.

The above proposal by Dr. Chu Manh Hung and Dr. Do Xuan Trong received many different opinions from VietNamNet readers. Reader Le Dung supported this view. However, this proposal is very difficult to implement because the capital is too large, and at the same time, clearing the land for individual houses is not easy.

“In developed countries, there are very few individual houses in core urban areas like Hanoi. They plan and build modern, neat residential areas without many alleys like ours,” reader Le Dung shared.

Individual houses in Hanoi's inner city are built between high-rise buildings. (Photo: Dinh Hieu)

Regarding the same issue, reader Thanh Binh said that the feasibility of this proposal is extremely low. “Just look at the reality of Hanoi to see whether this can be done or not. Hanoi has millions of people living in individual houses in the inner city district. So how can we eliminate tens of thousands of their houses?”, reader Thanh Binh asked.

As evidence for this, Thanh Binh gave the example of hundreds of old apartment buildings that have degraded, even at a dangerous level, but it is not easy to renovate them in Hanoi.

“Where will the money come from to clear tens of thousands of low-rise houses to build high-rise buildings, which will cost millions of billions? Where will the manpower come from to count and determine the value of each house and how will it be calculated? Another important issue is the legality of this, how many laws, decrees, and circulars are involved?”, reader Thanh Binh wondered.

Need to quickly move schools and hospitals to the suburbs

Sharing with VietNamNet, reader Hai Lua said that the above idea seems good but is not feasible for Hanoi. "In recent years, it has been difficult to move just a few agencies, hospitals, and schools out of the inner city, let alone millions of people living in individual houses," reader Hai Lua expressed.

Nguyen Binh Minh also expressed concern that removing individual houses to build high-rise buildings would lead to more people being crammed into the core area of Hanoi. At that time, the streets of the capital would be even more seriously congested.

Mr. Xuan Hoa also commented that individual houses and even mini apartments will be difficult to abandon in a city where land is scarce and population is dense. Therefore, to ensure safety, authorities need to strictly control the construction standards of individual houses and mini apartments.

According to reader Phan Ha, the most important thing for Hanoi right now is to move some schools, hospitals, and offices to the suburbs. “If these facilities are still in the inner city, even if the population is dispersed, they will still have to go to the inner city to work and study. Traffic will continue to get more and more congested,” Phan Ha said.

Bui Dung thinks that in the inner city districts of Hanoi, people and agencies should be relocated to the suburbs to make the city more airy. "The streets are already full of people and vehicles with low-rise buildings, now thousands of people will go to high-rise buildings, where will they go?", Bui Dung wonders.

With the same concern, Tu Van shared his personal opinion, wanting to live in a low-rise house with a spacious campus. But the paradox in Hanoi is that with the 'concrete jungle' built tightly together, the roads are narrow, the streets are jammed, dusty, noisy, stuffy...

“The State’s policy only needs to be adjusted in the direction of overcoming shortcomings, forcing investors to comply with planning and build according to regulations. If the current situation remains, the number of illegal and unlicensed constructions will increase, and that will cause shortcomings,” said Tu Van.

Source