Draft Law on Construction (amended): Avoid overlapping with related laws

Accordingly, this Law only focuses on regulating technical issues related to construction activities; it does not regulate contents related to capital sources, investment forms, investment policies, construction planning... to avoid overlapping with related laws such as the Law on Public Investment, Law on PPP, Law on Investment, Law on Urban and Rural Planning...

Photo caption — Delegate Pham Trong Nghia, National Assembly delegation of Lang Son province spoke.

Delegate Pham Trong Nghia, National Assembly delegation of Lang Son province, said: Article 4 of the draft Law stipulates the parallel application of the Construction Law and other relevant laws in construction activities in Vietnam; at the same time, it stipulates that in case there are differences between the provisions of the Construction Law and other laws promulgated before the effective date of the Construction Law on construction investment procedures, the Construction Law shall be applied, except for some specific cases which shall be implemented according to the Public Investment Law, PPP Law, Investment Law, Housing Law, and Real Estate Business Law. In addition to the above laws, there are a number of other laws regulating construction activities but with provisions on the application of different laws.

On expanding the scope of construction permit exemption

Delegate Pham Trong Nghia said that, accepting the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee on simplifying administrative procedures, but not loosening management, the Government has revised and supplemented the draft Law, that is, reviewing and revising to specifically stipulate the subjects exempted from construction permits in Clause 2, Article 43 of the Draft Law; clearly stipulating the subjects, types of records and agencies receiving records of construction commencement notification for works exempted from construction permits; at the same time, adding Article 47 regulating construction order management to clarify the management contents to ensure the requirements of "post-inspection" when reducing some contents and requirements of "pre-inspection".

Also according to delegate Pham Trong Nghia, the draft Law stipulates 8 groups exempted from construction permits; expanding the scope of exemption from construction permits to: Works under special public investment projects, investment projects under special investment procedures; Construction works under construction investment projects whose Feasibility Study Report has been appraised and approved by specialized construction agencies in accordance with regulations (Clause 2, Article 43, Clause 4, Article 95).

Delegate Pham Trong Nghia basically agreed with the above expansion. The new law clearly demonstrates the spirit of "pick and choose" by significantly expanding the cases exempted from construction permits, especially for large projects that have been appraised at high levels and works of special nature. This helps to cut down on pre-inspection procedures and move to stricter post-inspection.

The provisions of the Draft also contribute to implementing the principle that from the preparation stage to the time of construction commencement, the state management agency on construction only controls each project and construction work once (each project and construction work only has to carry out 01 administrative procedure) and implements the requirements on focusing on reducing and simplifying administrative procedures in the construction sector in Official Dispatch No. 78/CD-TTg dated May 29, 2025 and No. 133/CD-TTg dated August 12, 2025 of the Prime Minister. In addition, delegate Pham Trong Nghia also proposed: Clearly specifying criteria and post-inspection procedures for cases of license exemption, especially regarding technical infrastructure, environment, fire prevention and fighting, preventing abuse or laxity of post-inspection, avoiding causing trouble for organizations and individuals; Building a mechanism for information disclosure and receiving feedback, ensuring construction quality.

Promoting social housing development and special mechanisms

Delegate Ha Sy Dong, National Assembly Delegation of Quang Tri province, suggested that the Drafting Committee consider reviewing once again carefully the provisions related to the content to promote the development of social housing and special mechanisms for social housing projects for low-income people.

Mr. Ha Sy Dong suggested that the draft Law needs to supplement and pay more attention to breakthrough policies to solve the current shortage of social housing.

Accordingly, Mr. Dong proposed to build a special mechanism to remove legal obstacles for social housing projects. For example, allowing the provincial People's Committee to quickly approve social housing projects that are not yet included in the planning or housing development plan if deemed necessary, and directly appoint qualified investors instead of bidding. This mechanism helps shorten procedures and start projects sooner, meeting the urgent need for social housing in the locality.

The law should supplement regulations on incentives and encourage businesses to participate in social housing. Specifically, allowing investors of social housing projects to exploit a part of the area to build commercial housing (or arrange floor area for business services and commerce) up to 20% of the project, for example, to offset costs and ensure reasonable profits. At the same time, it is necessary to establish a National Social Housing Development Fund with stable capital sources (budget, bonds, business contributions, etc.) to support interest rates and preferential loans for social housing projects. This fund must be managed transparently and allocated with priority to areas with high demand (such as large urban areas and industrial zones) to ensure social security goals.

Expanding the subjects and simplifying the conditions for purchasing and renting social housing. The current law strictly regulates income and housing conditions for social housing, making it difficult for many people to access. Therefore, it is necessary to add provisions allowing some special subjects to be given priority without having to meet all conditions. For example, households subject to resettlement due to land acquisition by the State or people giving up land for social housing projects can buy social housing without having to consider housing and income conditions (if they have not previously enjoyed any social housing). This expansion ensures fairness for people with meritorious services and people affected by the project and helps speed up resettlement arrangements. In addition, the process of reviewing social housing applications also needs to be streamlined and digitalized as mentioned above, to shorten the processing time to 2-3 years for a completed social housing project instead of more than 5 years as it is now.

According to delegate Ha Sy Dong, in order for social housing projects to come into reality soon, the Prime Minister has requested to create the most favorable conditions for them to be completed within 2-3 years. Therefore, the Law should supplement the principle of special priority for social housing: from the land allocation stage (exemption or reduction of land use fees), construction permit procedures (permits can be exempted if the project meets certain criteria), to the acceptance stage for use. These priorities will contribute to realizing the goal of investing in 1 million social housing units in the 2021-2030 period set by the Government, while helping low-income people soon have stable housing.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/du-an-luat-xay-dung-sua-doi-tranh-chong-cheo-voi-cac-luat-co-lien-quan-20251106103444549.htm