The government is taking steps to accelerate construction of homes

HO CHI MINH CITY - Whenever her suitor or coworkers call round, Vietnamese garment worker Nguyen Thi Loan struggles to make her 8-square-meter room look more spacious, and mutters "If only..."

Loan's room is typical of those in her boarding house on Phan Huy Thuc Road in District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City. Her lodging is spartan, with just enough room to fit a single bed, a small wardrobe, and an electric rice cooker.

"Our company has two dormitories, but they don't have enough rooms for all 1,800 workers. That's why I have to rent this room for 1.5 million Vietnamese dong ($67), which is half of my total monthly income," Loan, who works for garment maker Hung Way, in the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, told Xinhua recently.

"I want to open a street-side restaurant to earn more money. And then I'll be able to save money to buy a social house (low-cost apartments built by companies with state assistance). If only Ho Chi Minh City had cheap houses like Binh Duong does," a gloomy looking Loan said.

The southern Binh Duong province is the first Vietnamese locality to have sold low-cost apartments at a price of 100 million Vietnamese dong for a 30-square-meter unit. On Jan 25, the Vietnamese prime minister issued an instruction to accelerate social housing development.

Binh Duong has a population of some 2 million people, with 52 percent being immigrants, which is the highest immigrant rate in Vietnam. Most of the immigrants work in industrial parks. Therefore, the provincial authorities have prioritized social housing development.

Binh Duong currently has 85 social housing projects, including 43 developed by the local company Becamex. There are 70,000 apartments covering a total area of 3.1 million square meters, according to the provincial construction department.

Currently, the total social housing area in Binh Duong stands at 761,000 square meters with 16,900 apartments built, which meets around 17 percent of demand for low-income earners.

Households and individuals, in addition, have built around 180,000 boarding homes which accommodate 540,000 people, meeting 55 percent of demand for low-income earners, including students.

To own a budget apartment in Binh Duong, buyers have to pay only 10-20 million Vietnamese dong as a downpayment, and pay the rest in installments over 15 years with preferential interest rates. The provincial authorities have also allowed buyers to re-sell their apartments after three years of living in them.

"Like Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City can build 30-square meter apartments to sell for between 100-200 million Vietnamese dong in areas such as the Linh Trung Export Processing Zone, the Hi-Tech Zone, the Quang Trung Software Park, the Ho Chi Minh City National University, and the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone," Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estates Association, told Xinhua on Monday.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Construction Department's social housing development plan, from 2017 to 2020, the city will develop 39 projects which will create 45,000 apartments, Chau said, adding that by 2020, some 30,000 apartments will be put into use.