The northern port city of Hai Phong kicked off construction on March 7 of a project building social housing with total investment of over VND4.86 trillion ($203 million).

The project covers a total of 16.9 hectares in Ngo Quyen district.

This is the first social housing project built under the city’s master plan for such housing and is part of dealing with housing problems for those living in old apartment buildings. The plan was approved by local authorities last year, with the aim of building five social housing areas in Ngo Quyen, Le Chan, Kien An, and Do Son districts with a total of 8,000 houses.

Apart from social housing, the city also focuses on housing for workers. Hai Phong has 12 industrial parks with 180,000 workers, including 50,000 immigrants to the city, leading to huge demand for accommodation.

It is working to build houses for around 80,000 people.