Residents of an apartment building in Hanoi are dealing with mounting piles of garbage and an unbearable stench after disposal services stopped in the wake of the building’s investor being put in jail.

The lobby of block B in the Osaka Complex apartment building in Hoang Liet Ward, Hoang Mai District, Hanoi is overflowing with trash as the dozens of dustbins used by the residents have not been emptied for days.

The residents must pass through the lobby to use the elevators, and the building’s security guards, customer service staff, and technicians must deal with it non-stop as their offices sit opposite the mountains of trash.

“Garbage has piled up in the lobby since Monday. The odor is unbearable when I have to wait for the elevators. I can barely breathe,” one of the residents complained.

According to a leader of the People’s Committee of Hoang Liet Ward, authorities are aware of the situation, but they are not responsible for garbage collection in the apartment building. 

Instead, that duty falls on Nam Minh Hoang Co. Ltd., the building’s investor. However, Nam Minh Hoang Co. Ltd.’s legal representative is currently in jail for fraud.

“We have reported the case to the [Hoang Mai] district [authorities] and asked Nam Minh Hoang to resume garbage collection," the ward official noted.

“No one can make decisions on the use of the building’s maintenance fund [to collect garbage] because there is no management board.

"The investor’s legal representative must get involved in the establishment of a management board, but he is in prison."

The Hoang Liet Ward People’s Committee will assign officials to visit the prison and work with the investor’s representative on transferring his position to another individual to hold a conference to vote for a management board for the building.

The official said the ward can ensure garbage collection for a short period but the issue should be completely resolved.

According to Nam Minh Hoang Co. Ltd., the reason for the lack of garbage collection is actually somewhat complicated. 

Apparently, the building's elevator maintenance contract with Mitsubishi Elevator Vietnam Co. Ltd. expired on June 30. As such, there is no ensured safety on the building’s elevators, including those used to transport garbage. 

As safety is not ensured, the investor cannot use these elevators to transport garbage. Because the building’s maintenance fund cannot be accessed, deadlines to maintain the elevators and other technical systems in the building have come and gone with no renewal. 

“Although over 95 percent of the residents have contributed to the maintenance fund, it has yet to be used,” the company noted.

As a result, the company will halt the collection of the building management and operation fees for July, August, and September of this year. It has also halted cleaning services and the transport of garbage.

The two blocks of the Osaka Complex apartment building are home to 720 households.

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