Many abandoned projects "disgrace" the city: What does the HCMC People's Committee explain?

At the Ho Chi Minh City socio-economic press conference on the afternoon of October 19, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued a document responding to Dan Tri reporters about the reasons why many projects were abandoned in the city, and proposed a plan to handle these projects.

According to reports, Ho Chi Minh City currently has many abandoned projects, including unfinished housing or vacant land, ranging in area from several thousand square meters to tens of hectares. Abandoned projects have been said to be a waste of resources and a bad "face" of the city.

In District 1 alone, statistics from the People's Committee of this district show that by the end of August 2022, 26 large projects and works had stopped construction and had to be fenced off.

Among those 26 projects, there are "golden land" areas worth billions of VND/m2 located on busy streets such as Nguyen Hue, Dong Khoi, Hai Ba Trung, Ben Nghe, Ton Duc Thang... Of which, 15 areas are vacant land, 9 projects are under construction, 1 project is suspended, and 1 project only has an abandoned house.

Explaining the reason, the HCMC People's Committee said that many projects in the area are currently subject to inspection, investigation, prosecution, and trial and are in the process of being processed, so they cannot continue to carry out related administrative procedures.

Accordingly, the city will recommend that central agencies, ministries and branches promptly handle the cases and conclude the investigation to soon put these land funds into project implementation.

Nhiều dự án bỏ hoang làm xấu mặt thành phố: UBND TPHCM lý giải gì? - 1 — The land area of over 4,000 m2 with 4 frontages on Le Loi - Nam Ky Khoi Nghia - Le Thanh Ton - Nguyen Trung Truc streets in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City has been surrounded by corrugated iron for many years (Photo taken at the end of August 2022: Nhat Quang).

The second reason is that some projects were approved many years ago but have not yet completed compensation and site clearance, so they cannot be completed. The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee said it has worked with investors and coordinated to request investors to complete compensation and site clearance.

The City People's Committee also said that many projects are stuck due to legal regulations. Typically, the City's Task Force on Solving Problems has reviewed and determined that 41 stuck projects cannot continue because there is no residential land within the project boundary, and they do not meet the regulations on conditions for building commercial housing as prescribed in Article 53 of the Housing Law.

To solve this problem, the city will continue to recommend ministries, branches, and agencies to study and amend legal regulations. Currently, Resolution No. 98 of the National Assembly has been issued, helping to remove some legal obstacles for social housing projects, projects expected to be bid but have public land within the project boundary...

The reason also comes from the fact that in order to improve the commercial efficiency of the project, investors propose to implement the project with higher planning indicators than those according to the approved planning scheme. Therefore, these projects must wait for planning adjustment. The City People's Committee has reviewed and given instructions on implementing planning adjustment as a basis for considering the investor's proposal.

Some projects in which investors are not qualified or do not meet the conditions to apply for transition are also the reason why many projects are fenced off.

The city said it has resolutely reported to competent authorities to terminate old policies to assign research and propose project implementation according to new regulations, for example, the Binh Quoi Thanh Da project in Binh Thanh district, the Ma Lang quadrangle project in district 1. The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee said it will continue to review and terminate projects that do not meet the conditions for continued implementation.

In addition, the cause also comes from some projects using assets and land use rights that are public assets, which need to be reviewed, arranged, and re-processed according to the law on management and use of public assets before implementing the project (for example, Tax Trade Center). The city will continue to review and speed up the process of reviewing, arranging, and processing public assets.

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