In-depth
Inside Hanoi’s apartment block businesses
  • | VNN, DTiNews | November 23, 2010 05:27 PM

Coming to B11A Apartment Block in Nam Trung Yen resettlement area in Hanoi, you will see a very exciting atmosphere of a market with different services.

A food stall on the 2nd floor in Nam Trung Yen

Nam Trung Yen resettlement area is located in Cau Giay, one of the business districts in Hanoi.

No law bans families from doing business in apartment blocks so most floors here have sales services.

A long corridor of the floors are coal stoves which are releasing smoke. Nguyen Hoang Ng., 40 years old, who lives at block 11B of Nam Trung Yen apartment said, up to 50% of households in his building use coal stoves to save money. They put stoves in the corridor to avoid risks in their own apartments.

Services available at Nam Trung Yen resettlement area
A market opens inside the house

“Children have to play beside the stoves full of smoke”, Mr. Ng said.

At 7:00 am, the atmosphere at block B3 is very busy and bustling when a noodle pub on the 9th floor opens. The pub is too crowded, thus, customers have to sit along the corridor of neighbouring houses. The scenery is as exciting as that of breakfast pubs on the ground.

At 11:00 am, an eatery opens at the corridor on the 2nd floor of block B11. Asked why the food stall is located here, the owner said in a natural way that, “I have nothing to do; therefore, I open it to earn living.”

The eatery attracts many people, including those from other areas, for its delicious food and reasonable prices.

Vu Thi Tr., 52 years old, one of the first residents in Nam Trung Yen resettlement area said, “The apartment blocks are surrounded by fields and far from markets. Many people here who are still unemployed open such services. It is also good because we do not have to travel for a long distance to buy food. I am now elderly and do not want to come to the ground to buy food. It is convenient for me to take meals on the 9th floor”.

On the 9th floor of block B3 is a grocery with spices, food items and many other goods like a small supermarket. Going along the corridor of other floors, you can buy tomatoes and vegetables.

This business form was set up by households here. Initially, they told one another to upgrade sitting rooms for business. Later, they expanded the businesses to the corridor. If any household cannot bear this situation, they sell their houses and seek another place to live.

The apartment blocks in Nam Trung Yen resettlement area have two elevators, but one among those doesn’t work. At peak hours of markets or lunch time, the only elevator has to work at full capacity and people must wait at least 5 minutes for it. On every floor, the elevator has to stop to serve the shopping demand of housewives.

One of the housewives said, “It is inconvenient for me to go to the market because I have to take motorbikes. No market is located near here. It is better for us to buy food here to save time.”

Earlier, residents had to deal with rough and dusty roads to the resettlement area when many projects were still underway. Now, they have to live in apartment blocks which are polluted and untidy. Their current situation is not much better than the old place of Kim Liem-O Cho Dua.

According to the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment, Nam Trung Yen Resettlement Area Project was kicked off in December, 2005, and was completed within 21 months. The project had a VND240-billion (USD12-million) investment capital, with the majority coming from Japanese official development assistance (ODA). Since 2006, hundreds of households moved to Nam Trung Yen resettlement area to live after they had to give their land to build Kim Lien-O Cho Dua Road under the city’s belt road No. 1 construction project. Nam Trung Yen’s location is said to be the nicest among resettlement areas in Hanoi.

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