The issue of planning and building high-rise apartments heats up the parliament

(Baonghean.vn) – The questioning time was not enough for delegates to express their opinions; delegates “dared” to ask directly about sensitive issues.

Explanation of Department of Construction

Mr. Hoang Trong Kim - Director of the Department of Construction said that currently in Nghe An province, there are a total of 132 housing construction projects, including 67 high-rise apartment building projects, with a total of 101 apartment blocks (Vinh city has 61 projects, with a total of 96 apartment blocks).

Up to now, out of 67 housing projects with high-rise apartments, 45 projects have been and are being invested in; 22 projects have not been invested in. 25 blocks have been completed and put into use, 34 blocks are under construction and have not been completed; 42 blocks have not been built.

Housing construction planning projects in general and high-rise apartment buildings in particular are invested in and constructed in accordance with the urban space development orientation, in accordance with general planning and zoning planning. According to the planning, the land ratio for traffic works is always over 20% (according to the standard, it is at least 18%).

The process of implementing investment projects to develop housing in general and high-rise apartment buildings in particular is carried out in accordance with current regulations; with the consensus of all levels, sectors, localities, etc. Affirming that high-rise apartment buildings are an effective solution to increase housing construction area, meeting the huge and diverse housing needs of the people.

However, there are some single high-rise housing projects located in old residential areas in Vinh City, the connection of infrastructure around the project with the main urban infrastructure is still limited and inadequate.

Mr. Hoang Trong Kim - Director of the Department of Construction opened the questioning session with content related to construction work in the province.

Currently, there are 59 high-rise apartment buildings under construction. Of these, 27 high-rise apartment buildings in the province do not require a license; 24 high-rise apartment buildings have been granted construction permits; 8 high-rise apartment buildings are under construction but have not yet submitted their documents.

There are 16 apartment buildings violating urban construction order (accounting for 27%) with the following violations: starting construction without a license; starting construction but not submitting application for a license; construction affecting the quality of neighboring works; affecting the environment and community...

Through inspection, the local urban construction order management authority has administratively sanctioned: 09/16 cases of violations of construction order.

According to Mr. Hoang Trong Kim, the cause of the shortcomings in planning and construction management is the fault of some investors with limited capacity and lack of understanding of investment and construction laws; Due to the pressure of business efficiency, some investors deliberately violate and are willing to pay administrative fines, continue construction, do not comply with the decision to suspend construction by the construction order management agency; do not fully comply with regulations such as: environmental protection, installation of unsafe construction equipment, leaving materials and supplies obstructing public traffic, construction measures approved by investors are not suitable, affecting the quality of neighboring works.

Meanwhile, local authorities at district and commune levels, officials and civil servants assigned to manage urban construction order in the area have not strictly handled violations according to the law. The organization of inspection, detection and handling of violations has not been timely. Inspection and examination work by specialized state management agencies has not been carried out regularly and continuously.

According to Mr. Hoang Trong Kim, the investor is primarily responsible for the quality of construction works and compliance with legal regulations on urban construction order. Local authorities at all levels (People's Committees at district and commune levels) are primarily responsible for managing urban construction order in the area; the Department of Construction is responsible for general management of construction work in the area, including the responsibility to guide local authorities at district and commune levels and investors on construction order management; organize construction quality inspections according to decentralization.

Hot questioning session

Delegate Dang Quang Hong (Nghi Loc district) commented that there are currently 8 unlicensed apartment buildings. So what is the solution for these 8 apartment buildings? As for delegate Thai Thi An Chung, regarding the existence of high-rise apartment buildings, the Department of Construction has specifically stated the responsibilities of the parties. In the report, the responsibility of the Department of Construction is not satisfactory and needs to be clarified. Currently, there are many tower cranes appearing in the city. Are there any management regulations?

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung requested the Department of Construction to clarify the industry's responsibility for the shortcomings and limitations pointed out.

Answering the questions of 2 delegates, Mr. Hoang Trong Kim said: For 8 unlicensed apartment buildings, according to the provisions of the Construction Law, there are 4 forms of handling, or suspending construction; if the violation is serious, the construction will be forced to be dismantled, administrative violations will be handled (possibly criminal proceedings)... For example, Muong Thanh Cua Dong Hotel has been handled for construction outside the licensed land, and the request for demolition has been handled. Bao Son's commercial center caused cracks in people's houses, the Department of Construction has coordinated with Vinh City to handle the investor who had a compensation agreement (with a consulting unit to calculate compensation)... Regarding the management of tower cranes, there are state regulations including standards on technical safety, labor safety..., and technical parameters of equipment. The responsibility for unsafe use belongs to the investor and related contractors.

Delegate Tran Duy Ngoan asked, some projects that have not been licensed but are still being built show defiance of the law. Is there a force behind some investors' disregard for the law?

Delegate Tran Duy Ngoan asked whether there was any force behind the construction permit issuance or not?

Regarding the question of delegate Tran Duy Ngoan (Hoang Mai Town), according to Mr. Kim, the project must be licensed before it can be started and must be constructed with a license granted by the competent authorities. Nghe An Province has all the agencies to carry out planning and construction management.

Currently, there is no good coordination between agencies. The Department of Construction has a specialized inspection agency but the number is small, there must be coordination between the local level, with districts, cities and towns. The grassroots level is important, there is decentralization, the Department of Construction cannot conduct inspections at the grassroots level by itself. Is there any backing, or group interests? There is no evidence to support this. To clarify, there needs to be a special topic, the Department of Construction has not discovered this problem.

Delegate Tran Dinh Toan (Thanh Chuong district) asked: The Department of Construction has known about the problems, so has it taken measures to deal with them; what measures will it take in the future?

Answering this question, Mr. Hoang Trong Kim said that, regarding the solution for planning and construction management, the most important thing is to strengthen the state management of each agency, creating smooth coordination between state agencies; besides, it is necessary to increase legal awareness of investors and construction contractors...

Delegate Nguyen Van Lu (Vinh City) raised the question: Does the Department of Construction dare to completely decentralize the licensing and construction management in the city to Vinh City? If so, Vinh City will take responsibility before the province and the Department for ensuring the issue of construction licensing and construction management in the area.

Delegate Nguyen Van Lu (Vinh City) raised the issue of decentralization in construction licensing and management.

According to Mr. Kim, the functions and tasks are clearly defined. We agree that there is decentralization, however, the Department of Construction needs to consider very carefully whether it has enough capacity or not. If it has enough capacity, the Department of Construction will propose a reasonable decentralization.

Many delegates wanted to question the Director of the Department of Construction, however, due to time constraints, the chairman requested to collect opinions so that the Department of Construction could respond in writing.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council suggested that the Provincial People's Committee should direct the issue of better planning and construction management, ensuring compliance with the provisions of the law. The Construction Law and related legal documents have clearly stipulated this, so it is necessary to study it to direct closely and decisively.

Attending the question and answer session, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong accepted the opinions of the meeting's chair, affirming that he would direct the Department of Construction and authorities at all levels to strictly implement legal regulations to do well in planning and construction management...

It can be seen that the issue of planning and managing the construction of high-rise apartments is a matter of great concern to many delegates. And most of the delegates have frankly questioned the key issues that voters want to be clarified. Regarding the questioning, although the representative of the Department of Construction has answered the questions, he still "avoided" the "difficult" questions such as: "Is there any backing, group interests"; or clarifying the "responsibility of the Department of Construction"...

The good news is that with this content, the chair of the question and answer session, based on the synthesis of voters' opinions and questions from delegates, clarified the shortcomings, problems, causes, and responsibilities of relevant parties to request the Provincial People's Committee to focus on rectification. The Construction Law and related legal documents fully stipulate the responsibilities of state agencies for planning work; construction management; inspection and handling of violations. Therefore, as the chair concluded, it is necessary to refer to the provisions of the law to do a good job of planning and construction management.

Nhat Lan - Pham Bang

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