Hanoi (VNA) - Hanoishould finalise regulations on construction management to eliminate overlappingresponsibilities between agencies, and also to clarify inspection duties tobetter deter construction violations, experts have said.

Tran Viet Trung, deputy directorof the city’s Department of Construction, said that a shortage of sanctions andthe loose management of local authorities have contributed to an increase inconstruction violations.

In some suburban districts suchas Dong Anh, Hoai Duc, Hoang Mai, Me Linh, My Duc, Nam Tu Liem, Soc Son, ThanhTri and Gia Lam, illegal construction encroaching on public and agriculturalland still occurs. However, the handling of violations of local authoritiesremains ineffective and slow.

Some localities delay reportingviolations to higher level authorities. Thus, many illegal constructionprojects are nearly completed before being discovered by authorised agencies,he said.

In May 2013, the city set upconstruction order management groups, which included inspectors of theDepartment of Construction, in districts and towns in order to strengtheninspection in localities. However, due to poor co-ordination between the groupsand local authorities, the crackdowns were not effective.

In September 2016, the cityassigned the chairmen of the people’s committees of districts and towns todirectly guide the construction order management groups to deter violations intheir localities. But a lack of clarity on the specific duties of inspectors ofthe city’s department and local authorised agencies resulted in a confusion andpoor management.

Violations in the construction ofthe HH-01 Building in Dai Mo Urban Area in Nam Tu Liem district are an example.In May 2016, the People’s Committees of Nam Tu Liem district, Dai Mo ward andthe local construction order management team issued a decision to suspend theconstruction because the project lacked required licenses.

But construction work continueduntil January this year, over seven months after the decision was issued. Bythat time, the building’s 18 stories were complete. Ineffective co-ordinationbetween local authorities and inspection teams contributed to the problem.

Last month, the Government agreedto establish the city’s inspectorate group, which included constructioninspectors from districts and towns, as a two-year pilot project. Asstipulated, the inspectorate group would be under the management of thedistrict/town people’s committees. The change was expected to improve theefficiency of the crackdown on construction violations.

A representative of the city’sDepartment of Construction said that the city has assigned authorized agenciesto study, complete and issue regulations of the new model, in which responsibilitiesof the chairmen of district and town people’s committees and supervisinginspectors would be clarified.

He also said that it was time tobuild regulations on co-ordination between relevant authorities and individualsto enhance the implementation of the new model.-VNA