In Vietnam for a long time, construction management and inspection have been considered extremely strict. To the point where a civilian family buys some bricks and brings a truck of sand to leave in front of the house, some local officials will come and question.
Yet, an unlicensed apartment building called My Home, in Tan Xa commune, Thach That district, Hanoi, has a “huge” scale of 9 floors, with nearly 200 apartments, and has existed for a whole year. Local authorities still ignore it.
Tien Phong newspaper on October 12 reported, “Discovering an illegal mini apartment building with 200 apartments in the suburbs of Hanoi.” The news said:
“After the mini apartment fire that killed 56 people in Hanoi, through review, the authorities discovered an unlicensed mini apartment building with a ‘huge’ scale of 9 floors with nearly 200 apartments, no different from a social housing project, named My Home in Tan Xa commune (Thach That district).”
In particular, this building was not only built without a permit, but also built over 6 floors, with a “huge” scale of 9 floors, with nearly 200 apartments. Meanwhile, the project application for licensing only has the scale of “3 floors + tumulus, first floor area is 150 square meters, total floor area is nearly 492 square meters.”
According to Tien Phong newspaper, previously, in March 2023, the Tan Xa commune government made a record of administrative sanctions against Mr. Nguyen Minh Cong, the investor of the above project. Mr. Cong was fined VND35 million because this project did not have a construction permit. But the local government still lets the project exist.
Less than a month later, the public was surprised to learn that the Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Thach That district – Mr. Nguyen Kim Loan – had signed and issued a construction permit for the “individual housing” project for Cong and his wife, right on the plot of land of the apartment complex, is waiting to be handled for violations.
So, from a project that did not have a permit and was sanctioned, why was the leader of the People’s Committee of Thach That district still allowed to continue building? The important thing is, from an unlicensed construction, licensed by Thach That district leaders, “legalizing” the violations, in the end, this building returned to the status… as an unlicensed construction.
Public opinion sees that, in a situation where a big issue was turned in minor issue, the local government must certainly be responsible. Because according to the regulations of construction management, then:
“Before building a house, the investor must apply for a construction permit. Once you have a construction permit, you must notify the local management agency at the ward and commune level before building.
During the construction process, at least three times the construction inspection agencies and urban management agencies must conduct inspections and compare the construction practices with the construction permits.”
Mr. Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, called such stories “corruption in real estate development.” In fact, according to Vo, there have been many cases in which where a big issue was turned in minor issue in construction projects across the country.
Mr. Dang Hung Vo said:
“I think it’s completely unreasonable for the grassroots authorities to say they don’t know. The ward-level government is the grassroots government. In each neighborhood of that government, there is also a regional police officer. This guy knows every person in the neighborhood. There is no reason to say that construction works in the management area are not known to the local government.”
“This is definitely a phenomenon called an interest group between the government at a certain level and investors, committing fraud. Surely there is bribery to cover the violation of the law by a certain project, by a certain investor.”
Public opinion sees that the current way of handling violating works is usually to fine them and let them exist. Because if we eliminate the violation, we worry about wasting social resources, which means indirectly admitting a violation of the law. So the “win-win” solution, a compromise measure between the government and investors, is very popular.
This shows that the truth “money can change the rule” is still popular. It also proves that the law in Vietnam has no value for those with power and money.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
