Lawmakers grill construction minister about “hot” issues

Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Construction Pham Hong Ha on June 5 continued taking the podium to answer questions raised by legislators, including those related to the construction of too many high-rise buildings in big cities, especially Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

On the second day of the Q&A session of the 14th National Assembly’s seventh sitting, Nguyen Minh Duc, a deputy from HCM City, cited a NA report revealing that the planning density of Hanoi and HCM City has been adjusted from 24.6 percent to 40 percent, with the average height of tall buildings increasing from 20 to 40 storeys.

The adjustment has changed master plans of the cities and caused pressure on urban planning and transport infrastructure, he said.

Duc asked for clarification of the Construction Minister’s responsibility for the fact that foreign investors and foreigners joined hands with Vietnamese to conduct illegal property trading and transfer, which have violated legal regulations on real estate management.

In reply, Ha said the People’s Committees of Hanoi and HCM City have to adjust the height and density of tall buildings in line with planning schemes approved by the Prime Minister.

Regarding the second issue raised by Duc, he said Vietnam has issued legal regulations allowing foreign organisations and individuals to buy and possess houses in the country.

The Ministries of National Defence and Public Security also devised regulations on the areas that need to be zoned off to ensure national defence and security in order to manage the issue, he said.

The minister emphasised that the current legal regulations ban foreigners from buying houses in the names of Vietnamese citizens in the country. According to the Ministry of Public Security, there have been cases in which foreigners bought houses in Vietnamese’s names but it has yet to grasp the number and specific names.

The Government has assigned the Ministries of Construction and Public Security and localities to clarify the problem and propose solutions, he said, adding the supervision of real estate transactions and residence of foreigners in localities will be tightened.-VNA