“Reining in Construction Chaos”

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Council delegation for supervising the management of the urban construction order in the city has just worked with many districts, wards, and branches.

Positive Changes

According to the information provided during the supervision sessions, since the issuance of Directive No. 23/2019 by the City Party Committee’s Standing Committee on strengthening the leadership and direction to improve the efficiency of state management of urban construction order in the city, and the implementation of Plan No. 3333/2019 by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee on the same matter, there have been significant positive changes in the management of urban construction order in the city.

District 1, for example, has not seen any new hotspots or complex violations of construction order regulations that cause public dissatisfaction. From 2021 up until now, there have only been 22 construction violations in total. Specifically, in the first six months of 2024, there were only 2 violations, a decrease of 94.74% compared to the time before Directive No. 23/2019 was issued. District 3 has also shown improvement, with a total of 8 construction violations in the first half of 2024.

Among the localities, Binh Chanh district has made the most remarkable progress. Mr. Truong Thai Ngoc, Head of the Binh Chanh District’s Urban Management Department, said that from 2021 to June 2024, there were 42 cases of construction order violations (26 unlicensed and 16 unlicensed) in the area, of which 19 have been handled. In the first six months of 2024, there were only 2 cases of violations.

“Before Directive No. 23/2019, the number of construction order violations in the area was 0.544 cases per day, and now it has decreased to 0.072 cases per day,” Mr. Ngoc compared. Impressed by this information, Mr. Truong Cong Nam, Deputy Chief Inspector of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, commented that Binh Chanh used to be a “hotspot” for construction order violations. After Directive No. 23/2019, with the engagement of the entire political system and the construction inspection force, the number of violations has decreased significantly, which is a great achievement for the district.

Timely Prevention and Handling of Violations

Regarding the effectiveness of management, the People’s Committee of District 1 shared that in addition to solutions related to human resources, the district has also implemented solutions related to online software applications. Furthermore, through the constant collaboration between the Fatherland Front Committees at the ward level and mass organizations, residential areas, and online interaction channels (Viber, Zalo, etc.), violations have been promptly detected, prevented, and handled in a timely manner.

Mr. Vo Duc Thanh, Chairman of Binh Chanh District People’s Committee, shared that in some communes of the district, such as Vinh Loc A, Vinh Loc B, and Binh Hung, there are only 3-4 civil servants in charge of land and construction, which puts a lot of pressure on the workforce. Therefore, the locality combines multiple models to improve management efficiency, especially by promoting the application of technology.

“In the past three months, we have been piloting remote sensing flights in Vinh Loc B commune to detect and prevent violations from the very beginning. After the pilot period, the district is formulating a proposal with a budget of nearly VND 15 billion to be submitted to the city for approval, so that we can apply this technology across the district,” said Mr. Thanh.

The Chairman of Binh Chanh District People’s Committee also informed about another measure, which is to request the district police to focus on verification and criminal handling, when there are sufficient grounds, against speculators and those who violate land use regulations. Typical violations include arbitrary change of land use purpose, illegal land subdivision and sale, and construction of unlicensed or non-compliant works, which affect the approved planning and cause public disorder.

Reducing Cover-ups and Evasion of Responsibility

To further improve the management of construction order, Mr. Pham Thanh Truc, Vice Chairman of the Management Board of Export Processing Zones and Industrial Parks (HEPZA), proposed that the act of establishing administrative violation records should be chaired by the People’s Committees of the district and communal levels to ensure continuity and uniformity in handling cases and compliance with legal regulations. At the same time, having a different unit inspecting and handling violations of unlicensed or non-compliant construction works than the unit that granted the construction license will help to improve state management of construction order, avoid cover-ups or evasion of responsibility, and ensure transparency.

Mr. Duong Thanh Cong, Vice Chairman of the Management Board of the Southern Urban Area, affirmed the necessity of continuing to strengthen the independent inspection of separate residential construction works, promptly detecting violations, and notifying the competent authorities for handling. At the same time, it is necessary to coordinate with the People’s Committees of districts, wards, and communes and the Inspection Team of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction to inspect the works licensed by the Management Board of the Southern Urban Area according to the periodic and regular plans issued by the above-mentioned units.

The Southern Urban Area also proposed not granting business licenses to residential buildings that have been illegally converted into hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, offices, or other services that change the original function of the building.