The Hanoi People’s Committee has begun building houses on a 24,518-square-meter site to sell and lease to low-income earners in Long Bien District.
There will be 500 apartments for rent and 300 to be sold when the work is completed in 2010. Each will be 35- 60 square meters in size.
By 2010 the capital needs an additional 7 million square meters of housing for around 120,000 families. After this project, work will begin on student dorms in Ha Dong.
The director of the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, Land and Housing, Vu Van Hau, said in 2007 Hanoi had failed to meet the demand for housing, especially among the poor and public workers.
The head of the Hanoi Social and Economic Development and Research Office, Nguyen Minh Phong, said it was essential to push projects aimed at building houses for low-income earners.
The department estimated that about 10,000 families had needed houses before the city expanded last year with the merger of Ha Tay Province.
