National campaign to eliminate substandard houses launched

The ceremony was held in Da Bac district in the northern province of Hoa Binh, and connected online to 63 provinces and centrally-run cities.

Addressing the event, the Prime Minister said that currently, there are still over 315,000 households classified as poor or near-poor who need housing assistance.

He expressed his confidence that the campaign, with a goal to construct or refurbish 170,000 homes by the end of 2025, will garner robust support from society.

The Prime Minister called for the mobilisation of resources from the State, society, businesses, and citizens and stressed the need for effective mechanisms and policies and the assurance of quality construction, serving the right beneficiaries and ensuring transparency and efficiency without corruption and waste.

Furthermore, the Government leader recommended the establishment of a fund to eradicate substandard houses across the nation.

At the event, several organisations, businesses and individuals pledged to donate a total of VND336 billion (US$13.42 million), a sum enough to construct 6,720 houses. The first allocation of funds will prioritise 40 provinces with high poverty rates and a substantial number of inadequate homes.

Addressing the housing issues facing the poor is part of a great policy of the Party and the State to alleviate poverty and stabilise the lives of the disadvantaged. Between 2000 and 2023, over 1.7 million houses were built or repaired for poor households and people with difficult backgrounds.

The same day, the Prime Minister attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Electronic Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturer Phase 1 invested by Japan's Meiko Electronics Group in the Industrial Park on the left bank of Da River, Hoa Binh city.

The project is designed to produce electronic circuits to develop peripheral devices, computers, home electronics, audio-visual equipment, solar cells, microprocessor chips, and controllers.

Meiko is one of the world's leading corporations in manufacturing and assembling electronic circuit with five plants in Japan, two plants in China and representative offices and subsidiaries around the world.

Meiko's Hoa Binh project is its 5th project in Viet Nam, with an investment capital of US$200 million for factory No. 1 and US$500 million for factory No. 2. The Group plans trial production from the second quarter of 2024 and then official production. The expected number of employees will amount to 3,000 by 2030. Its estimated budget contribution (when production reaches full capacity in 2030) will total US$8 million per year./.