DECISION No. 541/1997/QD-BXD OF NOVEMBER 22, 1997 TO AMEND AND SUPPLEMENT A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF THE REGULATION ON THE MAKING, EVALUATION AND APPROVAL OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECT DESIGNS ISSUED TOGETHER WITH DECISION No. 497/BXD-GD OF SEPTEMBER 18, 1996

THE MINISTER OF CONSTRUCTION

Pursuant to Decree No. 15-CP of March 04, 1994 of the Government defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction;

Pursuant to Decree No. 42-CP of July 16, 1996 of the Government issuing the Regulation on the Management of Investment and Construction;

Pursuant to Decree No. 92-CP of August 23, 1997 of the Government amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Regulation on the Management of Investment and Construction issued together with Decree No. 42-CP of July 16, 1996 of the Government;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department for State Quality Control of Construction Projects,

DECIDES

Article 1.- To issue together with this Decision a number of amended and supplemented articles of the Regulation on the making, evaluation and approval of construction project designs issued together with Decision No. 497/BXD-QD of September 18, 1996 of the Minister of Construction.

Article 2.- This Decision shall be uniformly executed nationwide and takes effect 15 days after the date of its signing.

Article 3.- The ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to organize and guide the execution of this Decision.

The Minister of Construction

A NUMBER OF AMENDED AND SUPPLEMENTED ARTICLES OF THE REGULATION ON THE MAKING, EVALUATION AND APPROVAL OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECT DESIGNS ISSUED TOGETHER WITH DECISION No. 497/BXD-GD OF SEPTEMBER 18, 1996 OF THE MINISTER OF CONSTRUCTION

(issued together with Decision No. 541/1997/QD-BXD of November 22, 1997 of the Minister of Construction)

Article 15.- Evaluation of the technical designs of constructions of Group A investment projects funded with State ital:

Clause 1 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

For a project (or a bid package) with appointed contractor(s), the head of the branch-managing ministry shall approve its technical design and total cost estimate (or its detailed cost estimates if the total cost estimate has not yet been made) after the specialized agency has evaluated its technical design or technical construction design and the Ministry of Construction has evaluated its total cost estimate (or the detailed cost estimates).

For a project (or a bid package) which must be open to bidding, the branch-managing ministry shall approve its technical design or its technical construction design after the specialized agency has evaluated its technical design or its technical construction design.

Article 16.- To be amended and supplemented as follows:

Evaluation of the technical designs of constructions belonging to State-funded investment projects of Groups B and C:

The person competent to decide the investment shall approve the technical designs or the technical construction designs after they have been evaluated by the specialized agency.

For a project (or a bid package) with appointed contractor(s), the person competent to decide the investment shall have to approve its total cost estimate ( or its detailed cost estimates if the total cost estimate has not yet been made) after it has been evaluated by the construction management agency.

The evaluation shall comply with Inter-ministerial Circular of the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of the Regulation on the Management of Investment and Construction issued together with Decree No. 42-CP of July 16, 1996 and Decree No. 92-CP of August 23, 1997 of the Government."

Article 25.- The approval of technical designs or technical construction designs and total cost estimates is stipulated as follows:

Clauses 1 and 3 are now annulled and Clause 1 is amended and supplemented as follows:

1. For constructions belonging to State-funded investment projects:

1.1. Group A projects:

- The head of the branch managing ministry shall approve the technical designs or technical construction designs and the total cost estimates (or the detailed cost estimates if the total cost estimate has not yet been made) of constructions of the projects (of bid packages) with appointed contractors.

- The branch-managing ministry shall approve the technical designs or technical construction designs of constructions of the projects (or bid packages) which must be open to bidding.

1.2. Projects of Groups B and C:

- The person competent to decide the investment shall approve the technical designs or technical construction designs.

- For a project (or a bid package) with appointed contractor, the person competent to decide the investment shall approve the total cost estimate (or the detailed cost estimates if the total cost estimate has not yet been made) of the construction.

Article 27.- The time limit for approval of designs after the receipt of full dossiers stated in Article 23

The following shall be added to the end of Article 27:

In case of any amendment and/or addition to the architecture, the planning or the main structure in the design already approved by the competent level, the investor shall effect such amendment and/or addition only after it is agreed upon by the level competent to approve the technical design or technical construction design.

Article 28.- The written approval of the technical design, technical construction design and the total cost estimate of a construction project must be sent to the following agency for supervision and management:

To be amended and supplemented as follows:

1. For constructions of State-funded investment projects:

1.1. Group A projects:

- For a project (or a bid package) with appointed contractor(s): The Office of the Government, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the branch-managing ministry, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance, the People's Committee of the province or city directly under the Central Government, where the project is to be constructed.

- For a project (or a bid package) for which a bidding must be organized: The branch-managing ministry shall send a set of dossier of the approved technical design and the written approval of the bid result to the Ministry of Construction for monitoring and recommendation when necessary. Besides, the branch-managing ministry shall send the written approval of the technical design and the bid result to: The Office of the Government, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance, the People's Committee of the province or city directly under the Central Government, where the project is to be constructed.

1.2. Projects of Groups B and C: the planning and financial agencies of the same level, the People's Committee of the province or city directly under the Central Government, where the project is to be constructed, the provincial/municipal Departments of Construction and Management of Specialized Construction (for specialized constructions) and the construction permit-granting agency.

2. For constructions belonging to investment projects not funded with State ital: the People's Committee of the province or city directly under the Central Government where the construction is to be erected, the provincial/municipal Departments of Construction and Management of Specialized Construction (for specialized constructions) and the construction permit-granting agency.

The Minister of Construction