However, renovation efforts for the old, dilapidated apartment buildings have been challenging so people can be exposed to potentially life-threatening hazards.
For many years, the four-story Pham The Hien apartment building in Ward 4, District 8, Ho Chi Minh City has been severely deteriorated and unsafe with vertical and diagonal cracks on walls, pillars and ceilings. Many sections of the walls are peeling. Some dwellers have got injuries from falling concrete.
Currently, 448 households are living there. The apartment building consists of three blocks, built in 1972.
Similarly, other buildings like the Ton That Thuyet and Vinh Hoi are classified as hazardous but face delays in relocation due to logistical challenges. Despite efforts, many residents remain in unsafe conditions due to a lack of temporary housing and preparation.
All of them hope that Ho Chi Minh City will soon plan a relocation to rebuild the apartment buildings.
Recently, in February 2023, a collapse of beams, corridor floors and balcony walls occurred in block C of Ton That Thuyet apartment building in District 4. Fortunately, the incident did not cause any casualties. Afterward, the collapsed area was reinforced, and the People's Committee of Ward 4 installed a warning sign at the collapsed area prohibiting anyone from approaching.
Another old apartment building in District 4 named Vinh Hoi, formed before 1975, with an area of more than 3,600 square meters which is a residential area of 104 housholds.
In 2017, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction performed an assessment of the quality and identified this apartment building in a dangerous situation requiring urgent relocation and demolition. However, at the current time, the residents have not been relocated and continue to live in life-threatening fear.
As observed by Sai Gon Giai Phong (SGGP) Newspaper’s reporter at District 4-based Truc Giang apartment building, it was quite surprising to find that there were still people living there despite the building being almost completely abandoned.
For more than three years, the local authorities relocated new temporary residential areas for residents of the Truc Giang apartment building, but there are still two households living on the ground floor of the old building.
A seven-story apartment building at 155-157 Bui Vien Street, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1 is one of the old buildings in need of urgent relocation due to being built nearly 50 years ago and severely deteriorated. Its stairways are locked as all residents there have moved out.
A representative of the Pham Ngu Lao Ward People's Committee stated that in 2019, District 1 organized the relocation of households from the 155-157 Bui Vien Street apartment building and provided temporary housing for them while waiting for new construction.
Out of the 95 households have relocated and only one household did not agree to vacate.
Recently, at a press conference on the socio-economic issues of Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy Head of the Office of Housing and Real Estate Market Management under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction Lam Thanh Tung stated that as of November this year, Ho Chi Minh City has relocated 674 out of 1,194 old and dangerously dilapidated buildings.
Among these, 454 households in eight out of 16 buildings were completely relocated, 220 out of 466 households in four out of 16 buildings were partially relocated, and four out of 16 buildings have not been relocated yet.
Currently, the remaining four buildings have not been relocated due to a lack of temporary housing; the temporary housing areas have not been repaired and prepared adequately to accommodate the residents, making the local authorities difficult to relocate residents to a safe place.
