Rectifying urban order management in Hoang Mai Town

(Baonghean) - In recent times, the management and licensing of private housing construction in Hoang Mai town has had limitations, affecting urban aesthetics, especially land encroachment and illegal construction. In order to restore order in this area, the Standing Committee of Hoang Mai Town Party Committee issued Directive 06 on rectifying and managing urban order...

Assess the situation correctly

Hoang Mai town is in the process of construction and transformation, with the goal of becoming a type III urban area, becoming a dynamic economic zone, a growth pole of the province. However, in the process of "from village to city", people have not caught up with the development trend of the town, the work of planning management and urban order is having limitations.

From that situation, the Party Committee and People's Committee of Hoang Mai town have set out requirements for re-establishing order in urban management and licensing management in basic construction, zoning and resolving old violations related to land encroachment and illegal construction, and resolutely not allowing new violations to arise.

However, the situation of construction works without permits and illegal construction still occurs in most localities, especially the situation of private housing being built without permits.

Enforced demolition of illegal construction works in Hamlet 20, Quynh Vinh Commune (Hoang Mai Town).

Quynh Di Ward is one of the central wards of the town. The requirement for urban planning and order management is that the construction of private houses must have a construction permit. However, according to research, only a few households know about the licensing policy through the government's announcement on loudspeakers, so they are confused and do not take seriously the implementation of regulations on construction licensing procedures. In 2016, in the ward, there were more than 50 households building houses and private construction works, but only 9 cases were granted construction permits.

Explaining the reasons for violations in the field of granting construction permits for private housing, Mr. Van Huy Thang - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Di Ward, said: "People's awareness of granting construction permits for private housing is still limited, some households are confused in carrying out construction procedures. In addition, due to planning problems, some households requested higher authorities to grant permits but were not accepted, but they still arbitrarily implemented them, making it very difficult to inspect and handle violations."

Identifying this as an issue that needs attention and resolution, the Town People's Council has established a delegation to monitor the implementation process in wards and communes.

Monitoring results show that: In 2015, the town only issued 132 construction permits; in 2016, 185 permits were issued. Of the total 634 private housing construction projects in the town, 317 cases of illegal construction were detected (accounting for 50%), of which 218 cases were built on land not permitted for construction, garden land or encroached land (accounting for 32%). From 2015 to 2016, wards and communes only enforced 38 cases.

The review from 2014 to present also shows that the granting of construction permits for houses and private construction works in wards and communes in the area is low (Quynh Lap commune only granted 48 cases; Quynh Loc commune granted 46 cases, Quynh Vinh commune granted 63 cases. Quynh Xuan ward alone only granted 1 case; Mai Hung ward did not grant any construction permits). It is worth mentioning that most of the unlicensed construction works have not been punished for violations. Typical examples are the households of Mr. Dau Sy Tuong, Quynh Thien ward and Mr. Ho Sy Cuong, Quynh Lap commune. The situation of encroachment on traffic corridors on the roads is complicated, with over 72 cases of encroachment and re-encroachment.

The above limitations are due to the lax management of land and construction order and the main responsibility lies with the heads of local Party committees and authorities. Local authorities have not considered construction licensing as an important solution to solve the problem of violations of construction order and illegal construction from the root. The coordination between the Urban Management Department and the authorities of wards and communes is not good. Some people do not know how to do the licensing procedures but are not given timely guidance, or the status of the application and licensing procedures is prolonged because the waiting time is too long, people arbitrarily carry out construction, but no agency intervenes or punishes, creating a bad precedent in the community.

In addition, the inspection and handling of violations is not resolute, not creating a deterrent for violations. Local authorities have not fulfilled their responsibilities in detecting and documenting violations. This is also one of the many reasons that create opportunities for violations to develop, negatively affecting urban aesthetics.

Resolutely rectify

In order to restore order in this field, the Standing Committee of Hoang Mai Town Party Committee issued Directive 06 on rectification and management of urban order. Contents on land management, illegal and unlicensed construction were included in the meetings of the Standing Committee and the Executive Committee of the Town Party Committee to listen to, discuss and direct solutions. Implementing the direction of the Town Party Committee, the Town People's Committee organized training conferences, requested the People's Committees of wards and communes to periodically report on the situation of construction order management, and established inspection teams for state management of land and construction order in the town.

In addition to organizing annual training courses for commune and ward officials, the Town People's Committee receives construction permit applications at the one-stop shop; publicly posts construction permit procedures at the one-stop shop.

Mr. Ho Van Son - Head of the Urban Management Department of Hoang Mai town said: "The town has implemented steps on construction order management and granting construction permits for private houses. However, communes and wards have not been really proactive in implementing this policy.

Illegal construction works in Quynh Lap commune.

Currently, the Town People's Committee is reviewing and rectifying illegal construction works throughout the area. At the same time, it is asking for the Provincial People's Committee's permission to establish an urban regulations team to help the Town People's Committee perform its tasks in the fields of construction management, urban order, environmental sanitation and enforcement of administrative decisions, enforcement decisions, and enforcement of cases of non-compliance with construction regulations.

In the coming time, to effectively implement Directive 06, Hoang Mai Town Party Committee requests the Town People's Committee to deploy synchronous measures to strictly manage this work, especially promoting propaganda to raise people's awareness and responsibility to contribute to building the town in a civilized and modern direction. Strengthening direction and inspection work at each level of government.

Any ward or commune that has committed a violation will be held responsible by its head. In addition, the functional departments and branches of the town and local authorities are required to urgently coordinate, take drastic action, have serious assessments, specific and synchronous solutions, and organize timely implementation to overcome limitations, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of urban management in the area.

Mr. Nguyen