Improving housing services given priority

Reporter:  Could you talk about significant achievements recorded by the construction sector in 2013?

Minister Dung:  Despite numerous difficulties, the Construction Ministry managed to complete the Housing Law, the Construction Law, and the Law on Real Estate Businesses—all expecting promulgation in 2014.

The construction sector focused on extending State management and oversight mechanisms regarding construction quality, urban development, and the real estate market. It also proposed a number of practical waste and inefficiency minimisation measures.

Reporter: What are those practical measures you mentioned above?

Minister Dung: Decree No15/2013 clearly stipulates the rights and responsibilities of State agencies and concerned parties tasked with monitoring and managing construction projects.

Precautions are always taken to check technical designs and the estimated budgets of State-funded projects. State investment disbursement is strictly inspected and officials and State employees taking part in these projects are held responsibile for any violations during their implementation.

Ensuring construction site quality and limiting State budget waste are always top priorities.

After Decree No15/2013 took effect in April 2013, provincial and municipal construction departments across the country inspected thousands of construction projects. A variety of faults and shortcomings were uncovered in the application of industry standards, technical designs, and investment estimations.

Adroit policymaking can save dozens of billions of Vietnam dong (VND) and avoid waste. The amendment of Decree No11 is a case in point, improving urban zoning and management and easing burdens hampering the local real estate market.

Decree No188, on developing and managing social houses, has generated considerable benefits on behalf of both urban and rural residents and is especially helpful for low-income earners.

Reporter:  There are growing concerns over housing projects for low-income earners. Could you elaborate on the obstacles encountered as these projects proceed?

Construction Minister Trinh Dinh Dung

Minister Dung: As a cabinet member, I do my best to draft policies incorporating incentives for improving social housing services. But the inherent nature of the Vietnamese real estate market and necessary urban management makes guaranteeing an adequate supply of houses for the poor extremely difficult. We must strive to stabilize the market price of housing and eliminate middlemen and brokers from real estate deals.

Decree No188 has opened up low-income earner access to social housing services.

Reporter: The domestic real estate market’s excess supply has led to gloomy forecasts for 2014. What can be done to ameliorate this?

Minister Dung:  The Vietnamese economy has yet to fully recover and budgets remain limited. This makes investing in a real estate supply reduction rescue unviable.

The Construction Ministry proposes real estate-related issues should be dealt with in accordance with national housing development and urban management strategies. These strategies incorporate preferential taxation and credit loan policies.

Thanks to the Government’s Resolution 02, real estate bounced back in the final months of 2013, regaining a proportion of consumer trust in price stability and inspiring the resumption of a number of suspended construction projects.                                                                                                                                                  

Reporter:  Thank you.