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Its foundation has sunk and cracks run up and down the walls as though they are ropes used to tie the building to the ground. Residents of the apartment block in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 5 know that their building is crumbling and on the brink of collapse, but they are staying put. The deadline for relocating the residents, so that the 727 Tran Hung Dao apartment block in District 5 could be demolished for a skyscraper to take its place, was April 30 this year. As with other similar projects, inadequate compensation and relocation plans have left residents angry and uncertain about their future. On December 10, the municipal administration issued another dispatch saying the eviction and site clearance of the apartment block, home to 535 households, must be completed by next March at the latest. But so far at least 350 households have declined to move, despite the fact that the block could collapse at any time. Under the relocation plan, each evicted resident would receive compensation of between VND7-8 million (US$412-471) per square meter depending on the floor they live. “The compensation fees for my apartment, covering an area of 25 square meters, would be just around VND200 million ($11,772). How can I buy a new house with that money?” asked a resident on the third floor. Nguyen Van Nha, the block’s deputy manager, pointed out another shortcoming hindering the relocation. As part of the plan, the block residents are set to be moved to the Nguyen Bieu apartment block in the same district. Since each apartment there is nearly double the size of their current residences, evicted residents are being asked to pay for the surplus area which costs between VND23-29 million ($1,350-1,700) per square meter. That means each evicted resident would have to pay an additional VND600 million (about $33,400) each for their new apartment, Nha said, saying this was another reason discouraging hundreds of households in the block from moving. Compensation disputes have also bogged down two other dilapidated apartment blocks in the city. In its December 10 dispatch, the city government mentioned that the buildings on 192 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 3 and 289 Tran Hung Dao Street in District 1 will also have to be demolished by March 2009. But 15 households sharing the same walls with the 289 Tran Hung Dao apartment block in an adjacent alley have insisted on staying though the investor has offered to increase their compensation fees to VND90 million ($5,300) from VND69 million ($4,061) per square meter. The investor also promised to provide them with financial assistance of between VND350-450 million ($20,600-26,500) each. Recently, the District 1 government warned it would carry out compulsory eviction of those 15 households if they continued to defy the relocation directive. At the apartment on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 3, two evicted households have lodged complaints about unsatisfactory compensation.
Reported by Tran Thanh Binh |
Residents refuse to move from crumbling homes
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