According to preliminary statistics, the whole province has implemented 54 social housing projects, of which 29 projects have been completed or are under construction, and 25 projects are in the investment preparation stage, with a total land area of about 173 hectares. When completed, the projects are expected to meet about 7.1 million square meters of floor space with more than 77,000 apartments for about 231,000 people.
With positive results, Kinh Bac is the leading locality in the country in this work. However, in the implementation process, many difficulties and obstacles still arise, requiring agencies and functional units to find breakthroughs, clear "bottlenecks", and promote socio-economic development.
Bright spot in social security
When moving into a clean, airy, secure and safe apartment in Thong Nhat social housing area (Vo Cuong Ward, Bac Ninh City), the family of Duong Cong Son and Tran Thi Tho said the joy was so great that everyone thought it was a dream. Ms Tho shared: "With a reasonable price and preferential policies, being able to borrow capital at an interest rate of 4.8%/year, the maximum loan term can be up to 25 years, my family learned and registered to buy social housing. The elders say, "settling down to find a career", moving into our own house, my husband and I feel completely secure, life is less stressful, and work is more effective".
Of the 54 social housing projects in Bac Ninh Province, 33 are for low-income people (23 completed and partially completed projects, 10 projects are under construction); 21 are for workers (8 completed and partially completed projects, 13 projects are under construction). In addition, the province is also implementing the Trade Union Facility Project in Yen Phong Industrial Park, with a scale of 4.28 hectares, which has completed site clearance and technical infrastructure investment. When completed, it will provide about 900 apartments for about 2,800 people. According to the Project "Investing in the construction of at least 1 million social housing apartments for low-income people and industrial park workers in the period of 2021-2030", approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 338/2023/QD-TTg, Bac Ninh Province will develop 30,600 apartments in phase I (2021-2025) and 41,500 apartments in phase II (2026-2030).
In phase I, the province has completed ten projects, meeting about 6,000 apartments; 15 projects have been granted construction permits and are under construction investment, when completed, will meet about 10,500 apartments; 23 projects are being compensated, cleared, and prepared for construction investment, meeting about 49,500 apartments, exceeding the set target by more than 60%.
Through the review, the province has arranged in the zoning and detailed planning projects 350 hectares of land for social housing development, which, when completed, will meet the demand for about 120,000 apartments.
The province also established a list of investment attractions, assigned the Department of Construction to preside over and develop separate incentive policies to develop social housing, especially housing for workers in industrial parks such as exemption and reduction of land use fees, land rent; credit support with preferential interest rates; support for technical infrastructure, social infrastructure in the project area, etc, Khai said.
With the above determination, the province strives to complete the target of developing more than 30,000 apartments from 2021 to 2025 and more than 40,000 apartments from 2026 to 2030 according to the above Project No.338, he noted.
Identifying "bottlenecks"
Bac Ninh Province is promoting the VND120,000 billion credit program for social housing. According to a report by the State Bank of Vietnam, Bac Ninh Province branch, currently, there are two social housing projects that have received preferential loans with an approved loan limit of VND170 billion. Recently, the Social Housing Project of the Que Vo New Urban Area Project (total investment capital of about VND1,300 billion, loan demand of about VND650 billion) has met the conditions to borrow the VND120,000 billion package and has started construction.
Although leading the country in developing social housing, the implementation of social housing and housing development projects for low-income people in Bac Ninh Province still faces many difficulties and obstacles. For example, the project Social Housing Area for workers in the Industrial Park of Dong Tien Commune (Yen Phong District) and Housing and Service Area for officials, workers and employees of Yen Phong Industrial Park, in Dong Phong Commune (Yen Phong District) with an area of 51 hectares invested by Viglacera Corporation is facing many difficulties and obstacles.
Up to now, the investor has completed 1,581 apartments but has only sold and rented out about 200 apartments. According to the reflection, the reason why the project is slow to implement and there is a large number of apartments remaining is that the project only allows workers in the industrial park where the project is located to rent or buy social housing, while other subjects who are also workers and employees of enterprises inside and outside the industrial park or cluster but are not located in the project area are not eligible for social housing support policies, etc.
Notably, recently, there has been a situation where some subjects, after purchasing social housing, have let foreigners live in them through the forms of marriage with foreigners, renting or staying with foreigners, etc. Expressing his opinion on this issue, Deputy Director of the Department of Construction Nguyen Tuan Dung said: The Department has requested investors of social housing projects to organise inspections, reviews, and recovery of apartments based on the purchase, sale, and lease contracts and legal regulations if they are found to have bought, sold, or leased apartments in violation of regulations. At the same time, coordinate with the building management board and relevant authorities to request households and individuals to stop buying, selling, and subleasing apartments in violation of the law before October 31.
There have been many comments from people, workers, etc., that the preferential mechanism for social housing policies in the province is still unreasonable, not harmonising the interests and responsibilities between the State, businesses, and people. Accordingly, the incentives mostly focus on supporting home buyers, renters, and rent-purchasers, while regulations on conditions and procedures for buying social housing still have many barriers.
Some cases have been approved by the Department of Construction as eligible, but when applying for a loan from the Social Policy Bank, they are still required to meet other requirements, such as income in the last three months is not subject to income tax, only workers in industrial parks are considered, etc.
The representative of the Bac Ninh provincial leadership affirmed that in the coming time, the province will focus on implementing solutions on planning, promptly removing difficulties and obstacles in compensation, supporting site clearance, and the process of investment in construction, business, exploitation and management of social housing projects. Along with that, the province continues to promote and publicise the selling and rental prices of social housing projects so that people can buy at the approved price, preventing profiteering, etc.
Last September, when inspecting the social housing project in Bac Ninh Province, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that ensuring "settling down and working" is an important factor in attracting human resources, serving the process of making Bac Ninh develop quickly and sustainably, worthy of being the growth pole of the Capital Region.
Bac Ninh needs to create mechanisms and policies on loans, land, and housing prices that are more suitable for workers and low-income people but must ensure factors of technical infrastructure, social infrastructure, etc., such as commercial housing projects, so that people can enjoy the landscape, modern and synchronous urban space, contributing to the overall socio-economic development of the locality.
