Gangwon Province is hosting a team of Vietnamese government officials on a week-long trip here to study Korea’s housing policies for low-income earners.

The program, requested by Vietnam’s Ministry of Construction, is co-organized by the International Urban Training Center, a state-run training center for policymakers in Gangwon Province and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in Vietnam.

A group of 13 officials from the construction ministry and Vietnam’s local municipalities began their site visits, meeting with related institutions in Gangwon Province on Monday to learn about Korea’s low-income housing provisions.

“This study tour is significant as it is IUTC’s first international training course on improvement of low-income housing, which will be extending to the Asia-Pacific region in collaboration with UN to implement and promote related Korean efforts throughout the world,” Kim Kwi-gon, director of IUTC said. 

The program is designed for policymakers to exchange information, knowledge and experience in building affordable houses and financing them.

Vietnamese officials are to bring insights from the trip to better plan their national housing strategy in need of reform to cater for the fast-growing population in urban areas.

With an average increase in population of about 1 million people per year, Vietnam has been one of the most densely populated countries in the region and in the world.

Population density in the capital of Hanoi reached nearly 1,900 people per square km in 2009 and that of Ho Chi Minh City is 3,400 people per square km. The Ministry of Construction is mandated to come up with better ways to provide decent social housing for the growing number of workers, migrants, students and disadvantaged groups.

“I believe this (the study trip) will bring some insights for the policy makers, and support them to finalize the national housing development strategy for the next two decades,” Tran Xuan Bach, UN-HABITAT Vietnam project manager said.

By Cynthia J. Kim (cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)