A Plethora of Villas Without Design or Construction Drawings

Multiple Violations

In 2008, the Nghe An People’s Committee issued Decision No. 2518 approving the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 for the Yen Hoa Residential Area in Quan Bau Ward, Vinh City. The project was invested by Nghe An Young Business Joint Stock Company (abbreviated as Young Business Company) located in Quan Bau Ward, Vinh City. The project covers an area of 3.41 hectares on the west side of Nguyen Trai Street and includes a complex of apartment buildings, supermarkets, commercial services, and office space for lease, consisting of a 9-story building (with an area of about 4,500 square meters); a compound of 24 adjacent villas, each lot ranging from 160 to 238 square meters (total area of about 4,000 square meters); and a compound of 74 adjacent 3-story houses, each lot ranging from 103 to 139 square meters (total area of 9,200 square meters).

In addition, the project also features a 2-story kindergarten with an area of about 2,200 square meters and a green area for sports and recreation (nearly 3,000 square meters). The total investment capital for the project is nearly VND 293 billion, of which 15% is self-funded. The project’s duration is 28 years from the date of being granted the investment certificate. After the planning approval, the Young Business Company failed to complete the subsequent procedures to implement the project as per the assigned progress. In the following years, the project experienced serious delays, violating the Investment Law and the Land Law.

From 2020 up to now, the project has been granted extensions multiple times by the Nghe An People’s Committee but remains incomplete. According to the latest extension decision, the project has a progress duration of about two months left. However, as of May 2024, only the construction of villas and adjacent houses has commenced, while the public works such as the kindergarten, green area, and sports facilities remain on paper. The apartment complex, supermarket, and commercial services have been transferred to another enterprise.

Despite the incomplete technical infrastructure, the absence of inspection and acceptance by the competent authorities, and notably, the lack of notification from the Department of Construction regarding eligibility for capital mobilization, the Young Business Company disregarded the regulations and signed a series of “capital contribution contracts” with customers from 2020 to 2023. Up to now, the investor has “sold” almost all the adjacent land plots and villas in the Yen Hoa Residential Area project.

Lack of Design Drawings

In response to public and media reflections, the competent authorities inspected and discovered that the investor had constructed a series of villas and adjacent houses without approved design drawings for the project’s works and items.

Specifically, on January 8, 2024, the Young Business Company was issued an administrative violation notice by the Vinh City Urban Order Management Team for commencing the construction of works without approved design drawings for the project’s works and items.

On June 4, 2024, the Vinh City People’s Committee issued Decision No. 381, imposing a fine of VND 70 million on the Young Business Company for the above-mentioned violation…

Regarding the construction of multiple works without design drawings at this project, a representative of the Nghe An Department of Construction stated that on May 21, 2013, the Department issued Document No. 47 on providing opinions on the basic design of adjacent houses and villas in the Yen Hoa New Residential Area in Block 10, Quan Bau Ward, Vinh City. However, the investor failed to complete the dossier and return it to the Department of Construction for confirmation on the drawings, so there is currently no dossier archived at the Department.

Given this situation, land purchasers in this project are concerned that once the villas and adjacent houses are completed, the procedures for transferring the red book (land use rights certificate) from the project owner to the households will be challenging without the basic design drawings (which have been appraised). They worry about the basis for the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to issue the certificate and when the households in this project will be able to obtain the land use right certificates.