DECISION No. 39/2005/QD-TTg OF FEBRUARY 28, 2005 GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 121 OF THE CONSTRUCTION LAW

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the November 26, 2003 Construction Law;

At the proposal of the Minister of Construction,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- Scope and objects of regulation

This Decision prescribes the handling of construction works currently existing in the Vietnamese territory but failing to comply with the provisions of the Construction Law, including construction works in conformity with approved construction plannings but with inappropriate architecture, and construction works not in conformity with approved construction plannings.

Article 2.- Construction works currently existing in conformity with approved construction plannings but with inappropriate architecture

Construction works currently existing in conformity with approved construction plannings but not in compliance with architecture and landscape regulations issued by competent agencies, such as regulations on work architecture blocks, number of work stories; work elevation architecture; construction foundation levels, first floors, other floors; protruding parts of first-floor balconies, work colors, work roofs, and other regulations, shall be allowed to exist in status quo. In cases where the work owners wish to renovate, upgrade or repair the works, they must strictly abide by the provisions of the Construction Law and architecture and landscape regulations.

Article 3.- Construction works currently existing but failing to conform to construction plannings

1. Cases where the entire works are not in conformity with construction plannings shall be handled as follows:

a/ In cases where the construction plannings are immediately implemented, the construction work owners must relocate the works to the planned areas and shall enjoy compensations therefor according to provisions of law.

b/ In cases where the construction plannings are not yet implemented, the works shall be allowed to exist in status quo. When wishing, the work owners may repair, renovate, or install equipment inside the works but must not change their architecture, force-bearing structure and safety. In cases where the repair, upgrading and/or renovation require construction permits according to regulations, the work owners must apply for temporary construction permits with definite terms. When the construction plannings are implemented, the work owners must dismantle the works by themselves according to the provisions of the Construction Law.

2. Cases where parts of the works are not in conformity with the construction plannings shall be handled as follows:

a/ In cases where the construction plannings are immediately implemented, the construction work owners must dismantle the parts which fail to conform to the construction plannings and shall enjoy compensations therefor according to provisions of law. They are allowed to conduct constructions on the ground floor of the remaining land plot but must comply with construction plannings, architecture and landscape regulations, construction regulations, construction standards, and such cases shall be specifically handled as follows:

- If the remaining land acreage is smaller than 15 m2, with the frontage width or depth of less than 3 m as compared to the construction landmark, the construction thereon shall not be permitted.

- If the remaining land acreage is between 15 m2 and under 40 m2, with frontage width of 3 m or more and depth of 3 m or more as compared to the construction landmark, the construction of works with no more than 2 stories shall be permitted.

- For the remaining cases, the construction shall be permitted but must conform to approved construction plannings.

b/ In cases where construction plannings are not yet implemented, the works shall be allowed to exist in status quo. If the work owners wish to upgrade, repair or renovate the works’ parts which fail to comply with construction plannings, they must apply for temporary construction permits with definite terms. In cases where the work owners wish to upgrade, renovate or build works in the acreages not contrary to construction plannings and such acreages fully satisfy the conditions mentioned at Point a of this Clause, they must apply for construction permits according to the provisions of the Construction Law. When construction plannings are implemented, work owners must abide by the provisions of Point a of this Clause.

Article 4.- Organization of implementation

1. The People’s Committees of all levels shall, basing themselves on the assigned functions and tasks, have the responsibilities:

a/ To review and make statistics of all works or work acreages not in conformity with approved construction plannings or architecture and landscape regulations, which are under their respective management, and draw up handling plans according to provisions of law.

b/ To review and make statistics of areas with construction plannings but without architecture and landscape regulations in order to issue such regulations according to their respective competence.

c/ To formulate and publicize construction plannings according to the provisions of the Construction Law for areas without construction plannings.

d/ To hold meetings of population groups and population quarters in order to publicize the State’s regimes, policies and regulations on the implementation of this Decision; publicize works within the to be-cleared areas, compensation levels for works which must be immediately cleared.

2. The provincial-level People’s Committees shall have to implement and direct the district- and commune-level People’s Committees to implement this Decision. The Ministry of Construction shall have to monitor, guide and urge localities to implement this Decision and send sum-up reports thereon to the Prime Minister.

Article 5.- Implementation provisions

1. This Decision takes effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.

2. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the Government-attached agencies and the presidents of the provincial/municipal People’s Committees shall have to implement this Decision.

Prime Minister
PHAN VAN KHAI