Its foundation is sunken and cracks run up and down the walls like so many ropes tied around the building, pulling it to the ground.

Though the HCMC government  has repeatedly urged district authorities relocate the building’s residents so that the building could be knocked down to make way for a 20-story office  building, only some 50 households have been moved so far.

The deadline for the relocation is April 30.

The HCMC’s Department of Finance  has offered to pay families compensation fees of VND6.6 million-10 million per square meter, depending on which floor they lived.

But disgruntled residents say the funds are not enough to afford new accommodations in areas slated for relocation. They have refused to move.

Many district leaders have said most old apartments were much smaller than those in buildings designated for relocation, therefore evicted residents sometimes have to pay as much as double their compensation fees to move.

Plans to rebuild six other apartment blocks in District 5 have also been stalled by superfluous formalities, according to local agencies.

An official from District 5 said cumbersome procedures were hindering progress as it took from 18 months to two years to get construction project licenses.

Cost of collapse

District 10 authorities said that of its 49 local apartment buildings, 31 blocks housing around 6,000 residents were critically dilapidated.

The Nguyen Kim and Ngo Gia Tu apartment blocks are the two hardest-hit and are in desperate need of demolition, said Huynh Khac Can, the district People’s Committee chair.

Nguyen Kim and Ngo Gia Tu residents complained that they had to cover repair expenses for their building’s heavily damaged drainage system. They also feared a future downpour or earthquake could destroy the building.

Can said the district has chalked out plans to renovate or reconstruct all its crumbling apartment buildings by 2010. But the plans have been caught in the throes of unsettled compensations fees and soaring construction material prices, Can said.

Additionally, the property market slowdown and tightened credit policies have also discouraged businesses from investing in new apartment blocks, said Can.

In Binh Thanh District’s Thanh Da Apartments, around 4,300 households have been plagued by deteriorating buildings that do not meet any fire or safety codes. Wall  cracks run rampant on every block.

Though the district government  has worked out plans to replace the dilapidated building by 2011, no investor has been selected for the project.

District officials said developers simply don’t want to build now as profits are low.

An official from District 10 said businesses had lined up to invest in new apartment construction projects when the city revamp plans were first laid.

“However, they walked out after realizing that they probably wouldn’t make much profit in such a cold property market,” he said.

In July 2007, the central government  issued a decree instructing Hanoi and HCMC to expedite the mass overhaul of dilapidated apartment buildings and wrap up all such projects by 2015.

HCMC’S DISINTEGRATING APARTMENTS

 Number of dilapidated apartment buildings: 152

■ Number of residents living there: 12,600

■ Number of buildings to be demolished and rebuilt: 59

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