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$35-million dorm left abandoned in northern Vietnam

By Phuong Vy November 30, 2016 | 01:47 am PT

A lack of funding has been blamed for delays to student accomodation.

Seven years ago, a dormitory project kicked off in the northern province of Ninh Binh to provide accommodation for over 7,600 students.

The project, with estimated investment of VND835 billion ($37.1 million) raised from government bonds, was put into the hands of Ninh Binh’s Department of Construction.

Around 70 percent of the project had been completed by 2013, but since then funds have dried up and work remains at a standstill.

A local resident said they had received a small amount of compensation from the department to give up their farmland for the project.

“The dormitory buildings were almost completed but now they are abandoned. We feel sad about our land and the hundreds of billions the government threw into the project,” he said.

The department said that this year it has carried out a survey on the housing needs of students and found that only 800, instead of the expected 7,600, wished to stay in the dormitory. Now the department plans to divide the project into a dorm, two hospitals and an office building.

The department is still waiting for comments from the provincial People’s Committee.