To avoid "mini apartment disasters"

As the person who directly inspected the scene of the mini apartment fire on Khuong Ha Street (Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi), Mr. Vu Ngoc Anh, Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Environment ( Ministry of Construction ) had an interview with a reporter from Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper about the current violations in construction and fire prevention of this project in particular and in the whole country in general.

Reporter: After the fire broke out at the mini apartment building on Khuong Ha Street (Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi ), you went directly to the scene. So how do you evaluate the design of this apartment building?

- Mr. VU NGOC ANH: First of all, it must be affirmed that the phrase "mini apartment building" is not in legal documents, and is not recognized and assessed for construction documents under this name. In fact, when applying for a construction permit, for sale or lease, the owner of this model always names it as a single-family house. However, a single-family house with many floors and many apartments is technically an apartment building - despite the different names.

According to the construction permit issued by the Thanh Xuan District People's Committee, this is a single-family house, with a construction area of ​​the first floor (including a mezzanine) of more than 167 m2, and a construction density of 70%. The licensed building has a height of 6 floors, with a mezzanine and a stairwell containing technical space. The total construction floor area is more than 1,165 m2 with a total height of more than 20 m (excluding the stairwell).

Through the actual survey and documents I have, this single-family house does not clearly state how many rooms are divided into. In reality, this is an apartment building (people still call it a mini apartment building) with 9 floors and 1 attic. As an apartment building, it must be designed in compliance with relevant standards and regulations, including fire prevention and fighting standards and regulations.

The staircase and fire escape of this apartment building is located in the middle of the house. According to the requirements of QCVN 06:2022/BXD National Technical Regulation on Fire Safety for Houses and Constructions issued by the Ministry of Construction, for people to escape in case of fire, the fire escape staircase must be a closed staircase (that is, when the door is opened, the door automatically retracts to always be in a closed state, assuming a fire occurs, smoke and fire cannot enter and people enter here to escape).

Next, going down to the first floor, there should be a safe corridor to escape but this apartment building does not have one. The space that should be used as a safe corridor on the first floor is used as a motorbike parking lot, so in case of fire, for example, people cannot escape even if they go down to the first floor.

Because this apartment building has an area of ​​less than 500 m2/floor, there is no need to arrange a second external ladder, but emergency exits must be arranged in each room with people to the outside (through the balcony, loggia), so that in case of fire, from here people can escape to the neighbor's house or climb down to a safe place. However, in this apartment building, most of the rooms are welded with tiger cages, some tiger cages have emergency exits; some houses are equipped with rope ladders, some are not, so it is difficult to escape to the neighbor's house in case of fire.

The apartment building on Khuong Ha Street has a ventilation shaft (also known as a skylight) but it is not properly constructed. When the apartment building catches fire, smoke and fire from the first floor rises to the other floors above through the ventilation shaft. Around the ventilation shafts, the apartments all have open windows, so when there is a fire, smoke and fire rise from below and spread through the curtains.

It can be affirmed that this apartment building does not comply with fire prevention and fighting standards and requirements for escape design for the building.

Are the current legal regulations on construction and fire prevention and fighting for mini apartments like the one on Khuong Ha street complete?

- The law on housing has stipulated that individual houses are designed and built with 2 or more apartments in a closed style (with separate living rooms, separate kitchens, separate toilets and bathrooms), with a minimum floor area of ​​30 m2 or more for each apartment, and the construction, repair and renovation of these houses must comply with the provisions of the law on construction.

Regulations on construction and fire prevention for mini apartments are available, whether investors comply or not depends largely on the supervision and inspection of the relevant authorities. In the photo: Mini apartments in Hanoi. Photo: HUU HUNG

The 2014 Construction Law stipulates that construction works, including individual houses in urban areas, must be strictly managed and controlled by central and local state construction management agencies through construction licensing and construction quality management depending on the scale and level of the work.

Individual housing projects are granted construction permits when they meet the following conditions: consistent with the land use purpose according to land use planning; ensuring safety for the project; meeting environmental requirements, fire and explosion prevention, ensuring technical infrastructure safety; having a design that complies with standards and regulations, meeting requirements on functionality, ensuring load-bearing safety, safety during use...

Currently, according to the provisions of Article 9 of Decree No. 06/2021/ND-CP of the Government , the construction of individual houses of households and individuals must comply with the following regulations: If building a house of 7 floors or more or having 2 or more basements, the design documents must be examined for construction safety content before applying for a construction permit. The design and design examination must be carried out by organizations and individuals with sufficient capacity as prescribed by law.

According to the provisions of section 1.1.13 of the standard 06:2021/BXD of the Ministry of Construction, individual houses for households with a height of 6 floors or less or with no more than 1 basement are not required to apply this standard but must follow separate instructions, suitable for each type of house and residential area. In case of converting the function to other purposes, it must comply with the provisions of this standard and must be approved by the competent Fire Prevention and Rescue Police agency as for works subject to fire prevention and fighting design approval.

The Government has also issued Decree No. 121/2013/ND-CP; Decree No. 139/2017/ND-CP and now Decree No. 16/2022/ND-CP on administrative sanctions for violations in the field of construction activities, which specifically stipulate violations and sanctions.

Thus, the law on construction and housing has created a legal corridor to fully regulate related activities in the field of construction works in general, and construction of individual houses in particular, including the type of individual houses designed with many floors and many households in urban areas.

However, in recent times, in some localities, in urban areas or residential areas near industrial parks, export processing zones, economic zones... there has been a situation of taking advantage of the lax management of functional agencies, so individuals have built multi-storey individual houses, many apartments for living or built houses with rooms for rent, not complying with the provisions of the law on construction and fire prevention. This leads to a high risk of fire and explosion, typically the recent apartment fire on Khuong Ha street caused very serious damage to people and property.

Currently in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and industrial parks and export processing zones in large cities, there are thousands of mini apartments built for sale and rent. What recommendations do you have for local authorities and people in complying with construction and fire prevention regulations?

- In June 2020, the Ministry of Construction sent an official dispatch to the People's Committees of localities on strengthening the implementation of legal regulations on construction and controlling construction order for individual houses designed with many floors and many apartments for living. Most recently, after the fire in Khuong Ha street, on September 15, the Ministry continued to send an official dispatch to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities on this content.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Construction requested the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities to direct the Department of Construction to coordinate with local authorities to continue implementing the contents stated in Official Dispatch No. 2937/BXD-QLN dated June 18, 2020 of the Ministry of Construction.

For completed projects, it is necessary to promptly review all of them to promptly detect violations of construction order, especially violations of fire prevention and fighting. Accordingly, the projects must have solutions to separate the parking area from the residential area and have separate escape routes; invest in appropriate fire prevention and fighting equipment; arrange for healthy and experienced people to manage and operate the building; strictly handle violations of related organizations and individuals according to the provisions of law.

For the above-mentioned projects when newly constructed, local competent authorities must strictly control compliance with legal regulations on planning, construction, fire prevention and fighting; and manage the issuance of construction permits according to regulations.

In addition, it is necessary to strengthen inspection and examination work to detect and strictly handle violations of construction order and fire prevention and fighting by related organizations and individuals.

Mr. LE HOANG CHAU, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA):

Prevent the "mini apartment" transformation from the root

Over the past 10 years, HoREA has had many documents recommending "mini apartments", including a research report and review of some "inadequate" regulations of the 2014 Housing Law.

Specifically, Clause 2, Article 46 of the 2014 Housing Law stipulates: In cases where households and individuals are permitted to build houses with two or more floors, each floor is designed and built with two or more apartments in a closed style, meeting the minimum floor area standards for each apartment according to construction standards and regulations, and having a privately owned area and a common area of ​​the apartment building according to the provisions of this law, the State shall recognize the ownership of each apartment in that house.

This regulation has given rise to many transformed mini apartments in urban areas with 100% mini apartments and rooms. In addition, the situation of "digging in" and rampant construction of mini apartments easily creates slums, not ensuring the legal and legitimate rights and interests of home buyers.

Mini apartments disrupt urban development planning, increase pressure on the area's infrastructure, cause loss of aesthetics, do not ensure fire safety, and lack utilities and services for residents. This type of building should only be allowed for housing rental business.

The above regulation also leads to mini apartments with 100% mini apartments that are not in accordance with the "National Technical Regulation on Apartment Buildings" which stipulates that an apartment building must have a minimum usable area of ​​25 m2 and the number of small apartments with an area of ​​less than 45 m2 must not exceed 25% of the total number of apartments in the project.

HoREA recommends that the Ministry of Construction submit to the Government for consideration and propose that the National Assembly Standing Committee submit to the National Assembly for consideration to amend Clause 2, Article 46 of the 2014 Housing Law to prevent and control the situation of building mini apartments disguised as mini apartments for sale and transfer of mini rooms in urban areas.

Specifically, it is possible to amend Clause 2, Article 46 of the 2014 Housing Law in the direction: In cases where households and individuals are permitted to build houses with 2 or more floors, each floor is designed and built with 2 or more apartments in a closed style according to national technical standards for apartment buildings and has a part of the area under private ownership, the part of the area under common ownership of the apartment building according to the provisions of this law, the State will recognize the ownership of each apartment in that house.

In the case of apartment buildings where all apartments have a minimum usable area and living rooms according to the regulations of the Ministry of Construction, they can only be rented out, not sold or transferred individually.

Q. You wrote

Victims' condition: 1 severe case requiring ventilator

At 8:00 a.m. today (September 18), Hanoi agencies and units will observe a minute of silence to commemorate the victims who died in the mini apartment fire at No. 37, Alley 29/70, Khuong Ha Street (Khuong Dinh Ward, Thanh Xuan District).

As of the afternoon of September 17, many organizations, individuals, and businesses have supported the fire victims with cash of nearly 55 billion 500 million VND.

Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Xuan Co, Director of Bach Mai Hospital, said that out of 27 patients the hospital has treated related to the incident (Hanoi City), there is only one serious case that requires a ventilator. The female patient VTN (39 years old, working at Bach Mai Hospital) has passed the dangerous stage.

In the mini apartment fire, Bach Mai Hospital received a total of 27 patients; including 8 children, the youngest was 8 months old. Hospital leaders said that apart from the 2 patients mentioned above, the remaining cases were conscious and could be discharged. However, they continued to be monitored in the hospital for hyperbaric oxygen treatment, CO poisoning detoxification, and to avoid future neurological complications.

Other hospitals treating victims of the fire also reported that their health is improving and stable. However, some patients are still psychologically unstable due to the death of a relative.

N.Dung - BHThanh

Source: https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su/de-khong-con-tham-hoa-chung-cu-mini-20230917221539352.htm