Aerial Surveillance to Curb Unauthorized Construction in Binh Chanh

Revoking 26 Housing Projects

At the meeting, Mr. Vo Duc Thanh, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Binh Chanh District, said that the district is reviewing 52 planning projects at the scale of 1/2,000 and expects to adjust it down to 21-22 projects.

According to Mr. Thanh, there are currently 92 housing projects in the Binh Chanh district plan, but many of them have been delayed in implementation, greatly affecting the lives of local residents. Of these, 41 projects are in the Southern Urban Area, and 51 are outside.

Given this situation, Binh Chanh district proposed to the city to revoke 26 approved investment projects. “If the investors are not capable of implementing the projects, new investors should be selected to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of the people,” said Mr. Thanh.

Regarding the management of construction order, Mr. Thanh said that due to the large area of the district, especially in Vinh Loc A, Vinh Loc B, and Binh Hung communes, inspecting and monitoring construction activities are challenging. The number of existing officers is insufficient to cover the entire area, so the local government has implemented various models to improve management effectiveness, especially by promoting the application of technology.

“In the past three months, remote sensing technology has been piloted in Vinh Loc B commune to promptly detect and prevent violations from the outset. After the pilot period, the district is developing a proposal to submit to the city, with a budget of nearly VND 15 billion, to apply this technology across the entire district,” said Mr. Thanh.

Sharp Decline in Violation Cases

Mr. Truong Thai Ngoc, Head of the Urban Management Division of Binh Chanh District, said that from 2021 to June 2024, there were 42 cases of construction order violations (26 with permits and 16 without) in the district. Of these, 19 cases have been handled, and 13 are being processed. In the first six months of 2024, there were two cases of construction order violations (with permits).

On a broader scale, according to Mr. Ngoc, before the issuance of Directive 23/2019 by the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee on enhancing leadership and direction in improving the state management of construction order, the number of construction order violations in the district was 0.544 cases per day. Today, the number of violations stands at 0.072 cases per day.

Mr. Truong Cong Nam, Deputy Chief Inspector of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, assessed that compared to 2019, the number of construction order violations in Binh Chanh District has decreased significantly.

“Previously, Binh Chanh was always a hotspot for construction order violations. After Directive 23 of the City Party Committee’s Standing Committee, the entire political system and the construction inspection force took action, and the number of violations decreased sharply. This is a considerable effort by the district because, before, the number of violations was in the hundreds or even thousands. Now, after three and a half years, there are only 42 cases of violations,” said Mr. Nam.

Mr. Pham Thanh Kien, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Council, highly appreciated the solutions implemented by Binh Chanh district in the past to reduce the number of construction order violations. Mr. Kien suggested that the local authorities should continue to consider this a key task in the coming time, focusing on applying information technology to achieve higher efficiency in state management of construction order.