HCM City targets building 39 million sq.m of new housing during the 2011-15 period, increasing its per capita housing area to 17 sq.m, the municipal People's Committee has announced.

The 2009 per capita housing area in the city was 14.3 sq.m.

At least 25 degraded apartment buildings with a combined floor area of 350,000sq.m in districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, Binh Thanh and Tan Binh will be rebuilt in the next five years.

By the end of 2015, the city will complete 11 housing projects with a total floor area of 453,000sq.m, consisting of nearly 4,700 apartments.

More than 22 hectares will be set aside for developing seven low-income housing projects with 10,000 apartments having a combined floor area of 837,000sq.m.

These plans include nine projects that will accommodate 67,700 workers and 13,700 students.

The city will also relocate more than 13,200 households living along canals by the end of 2015. Of these, 4,500 households living along canals in districts 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, Tan Phu, Binh Tan and Binh Thanh will be resettled during the next two years and the remaining 8,700 households will be relocated by the end of 2015.

The city has proposed that the Government amend the Housing Law to allow social housing projects to be developed in accordance with height restrictions on apartment buildings in the city, removing the current six-storey limit.

It has also proposed changes in the eligibility conditions for buying or renting low-income apartments during the five-year plan period, raising the limit from below five sq.m per person to 10sq.m./.