Carina apartment building in chaos when investor representative talks with residents

Evening of March 25,Hundreds of Carina residents (District 8, Ho Chi Minh City) gathered on the 2nd floor, Block B, waiting for the investor to come and talk and receive support money according to a previously circulated message. More than an hour passed but no one in charge appeared, many people loudly protested.

A man claiming to be from the "investor" said that the information in the text message was incorrect, so he asked the residents to disperse. He also threatened and tried to assault the angry residents, but was pushed out.

At around 8:00 p.m., a representative of Hung Thanh Company (managing Carina Plaza apartment building, owned by the investor - Nam Bay Bay Investment Joint Stock Company) made an official announcement.

His face showed obvious fatigue and tension, he said:"We sincerely apologize for the delay in making an official announcement because we had to focus on troubleshooting, serving the investigation, and providing emergency support to families of those who died or were injured. We also had to focus on protecting property, assisting residents in recovering documents and belongings, and handling tasks so that people could get their cars out."

He said the company has sent representatives to hospitals to provide material and spiritual support to the victims during the emergency process. The unit has supported the families of each deceased victim with 100 million VND. As of today, the total amount of support for the 13 deceased and 42 injured is more than 1.8 billion VND.

"The company will also support each household with 300,000 VND per day to cover temporary accommodation until the apartment is repaired and people are eligible to move back in," he announced.

With thousands of motorbikes and cars in the basement undamaged, residents have contacted the management board to take them out for use from tonight. As for vehicles damaged by the fire, residents will repair them themselves and contact their insurance to get paid. In case the insurance does not cover the cost, the investor will support the difference.

For vehicles that are completely damaged, the vehicle owner should contact the management board to provide documents for insurance purposes. The investor and insurance company will invite households to settle compensation for damages within 15 days, starting tomorrow.

For building repairs, the investor tries to complete them within 30 days. They must pass inspections by the authorities on fire prevention, environmental sanitation, structural safety, etc. before allowing residents to move in. Block C (with the least damage) will complete repairs within 10 days.

Regarding the residents' repeated requests to have an apartment management board and representativeHung Thanh Company saidThe conference was held twice but was unsuccessful. The first time, residents requested a change in the composition of the preparatory committee. Six months later, when the company held the conference, the number of residents attending was not enough according to regulations. Therefore, the investor will work with the government to organize the conference when the apartment building is operational again.

Some residents expressed sympathy for the investor's announcement, but most were still very upset. They said the investor was slow to apologize and did not organize a dialogue to resolve residents' problems. Many people had to "stay at" relatives' houses or rent hotels to stay temporarily.

The investor representative explained:"The unit focused all its resources to support the investigation agency. When the fire broke out, we and the police rescued the people. I myself was also injured in the head area, but for the past few days I have been running around to help with the repair. We hope that people will share, we will soon organize a dialogue."

Also today, nearly 500 Carina residents signed and sent a petition to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc denouncing the investor. They said that the damages that occurred were entirely due to the fault of the investor, the apartment management board as well as the state agencies involved in the acceptance, quality inspection of equipment, and periodic inspection of the fire prevention system in the apartment building.

Residents asked local authorities and relevant agencies to promptly find the cause of the fire, strictly handle violations and resolve damages for people.