Vietnam’s building code in a "messy" situation

The Vietnamese government faces a messy situation when it comes to issuing and monitoring the current regulations on construction.
Vietnam’s building code in a "messy" situation ảnh 1Demolition of 19th floor of 8B Le Truc building in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - The Vietnamese government faces a messysituation when it comes to issuing and monitoring the current regulations onconstruction.

Some regulations are ignored by investors, otherregulations have not been updated to catch up with the reality and regulations onbuilding condo hotels are currently lacking, reported by the Tien Phong (Vanguard)newspaper.

In June 2013, the Ministry of Constructionpromulgated an instruction of architectural norms applicable to multi-storeybuildings nationwide.

Under the instruction, an investor of acommercial housing project has to allot 20sq.m of parking space for each ownerof a 100sq.m apartment; the ratio is 12sq.m for each owner of a 100sq.mlow-cost apartment. However, many multi-storey residential buildings in both Hanoiand HCM City have failed to follow the regulations. The result is a severeshortage of parking space in these buildings.

In 2015, the ministry issued a constructionregulation for disabled access to buildings and facilities, ordering investorsof residential and public buildings to facilitate disabled people. Despite theregulations, not many disabled-friendly buildings have been built in bigcities.

Another problem is that, reportedly, nopunishments have been issued for these violations.

In 2013, the ministry promulgated the DecisionNo 212 to delete 169 outdated constructing regulations, including regulationson constructing high-rise buildings. Nonetheless, many new regulations toreplace the outdated regulations have not been issued until now, causingtroubles for investors in implementing their building projects.

And as some regulations are only being issuednow, regulations on building condo hotels have yet to be seen.

Doan Van Binh, Vice President of VietnamNational Real Estate Association, said the model of condo hotel is stronglydeveloping in the coastal areas of Nha Trang, Phu Quoc and Da Nang.

The ministry has yet to issue any regulationrelated to building this kind of hotel, which has caused troubles for investorsin constructing condo hotels. Some have even been constructed withoutregulations, he said.

Binh said the association asked authorisedagencies to quickly promulgate regulations on building and managing condohotels.

Associate Professor Tran Chung, from the VietnamFederation of Civil Engineering Association, admitted the current system ofregulations on construction is “very messy”. Too many outdated regulations areon the books, and too many regulations are ignored.

To fix the mess, in the short term, each investorshould select regulations on construction that they would apply for a projectbefore submitting to the authorised agencies for approval.

This shift would help the investor ensure theconsistency of regulations applied for the project, he said.

Additionally, authorised agencies could imposefines for investors failing to implement the regulations they committed to, headded.

In response to the situation, Deputy Minister ofConstruction Do Duc Duy said at a recent meeting that the ministry conductedchecks of current regulations on construction to gradually fix the situationsince last year.

Duy also admitted that some regulations werediscovered to be outdated and failed to catch up with the reality, therefore,the ministry would make amendments this year.

Especially, the ministry planned to issue theregulations on building condo hotel in 2017, he said.-VNA
VNA

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