Draft Law on Construction (amended): Strong decentralization but not lax

It is expected that the Government will submit to the National Assembly for comments on the draft Law on Construction (amended) at the upcoming 10th Session. At the workshop to contribute ideas to perfect the draft Law, organized by the Standing Committee of the Science, Technology and Environment Committee in coordination with the Ministry of Construction and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), a number of opinions agreed with the maximum decentralization coupled with an effective control mechanism in construction management.

Give more power to local authorities and investors

According to the report of the Ministry of Construction , the draft Law on Construction (amended) amends 141/168 articles of the current Law, restructuring it into 8 chapters with 96 articles, focusing on 4 major policy groups, including the policy group on strong decentralization and delegation of authority in construction management.

Vice Chairman of the Committee for Science , Technology and Environment Tran Van Khai noted that the draft law has thoroughly implemented the principle of promoting decentralization from the central to local levels along with transparency of responsibilities of entities participating in construction activities. This means giving more initiative to localities and investors. This draft law also limits the detailed regulation of technical issues in the law, instead assigning the Government to regulate to create flexibility for adjustment when needed. This is also a way of "decentralization" in terms of legislation, meaning the National Assembly only issues the legal framework, while the Government implements it specifically, in order to increase initiative and quick response to reality.

Vice Chairman of the Committee for Science, Technology and Environment Tran Van Khai speaks. Photo: Ho Long

Reporting at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Construction Bui Xuan Dung said that the draft law has defined the state management responsibilities of the Government , the Ministry of Construction, ministries, branches, and People's Committees at all levels. Accordingly, the Ministry of Construction and ministries managing specialized construction works are responsible for the contents related to the development of policies, regulations, and standards, and assigning localities to be responsible for organizing the implementation of administrative procedures and managing the implementation of construction investment in the locality.

The Deputy Minister of Construction also said that the draft law does not stipulate the authority to carry out administrative procedures, but assigns the Government to specify in detail the direction of promoting thorough decentralization to local authorities for the group of procedures on granting construction permits and granting certificates of practice in construction activities. For the group of procedures for appraising feasibility study reports and inspecting acceptance work, the maximum decentralization is given to specialized agencies under the People's Committees at the provincial and communal levels, only retaining the Central Government for inter-provincial, inter-regional and inter-national issues; related to national defense, security, national sovereignty; with deep technical expertise or related to important national projects, key technologies.

More specifically define the responsibilities of ministries and branches in guiding and supporting localities.

Giving opinions to complete the draft law, opinions agreed with the trend of promoting decentralization and delegation of power in construction management and agreed with the provisions in the draft law on only retaining important management contents at the Central level, the rest is boldly assigned to localities and investors to decide within the framework of the law. The delegates emphasized that this is to implement the Party's policy of decentralization and delegation of power (according to Resolution 68-NQ/TW and Conclusion 19-KL/TW), and at the same time is consistent with the process of streamlining the organization of the local government apparatus.

Deputy Director of the Department of Construction of Ninh Binh province Nguyen Van Hanh assessed that, regarding the regulations on project appraisal, the draft law has made significant changes, in which the appraisal of construction design implemented after the basic design is not performed by the specialized construction agency as before but assigned to the investor. The specialized construction agency only conducts appraisal of feasibility study reports for public investment projects, PPP projects, large-scale business investment projects or projects with works that greatly affect the safety and interests of the community (for projects in the above cases that only require the preparation of a technical economic report, appraisal is not required at the specialized construction agency). The above regulations will contribute to simplifying administrative procedures, creating favorable conditions for investment and business, significantly reducing the workload of specialized construction agencies, promoting the role of investors, the responsibility of design consultants, and appraisal consultants in professional contents.

The Deputy Director of the Department of Construction of Ninh Binh province also said that after implementing the 2-level local government model, the province established a delegation to inspect and remove difficulties at the commune level. Through a field survey, the implementation of Decree No. 140/2025/ND-CP regulating the delimitation of authority of 2-level local governments in the field of state management of the Ministry of Construction and Decree No. 145/2025/ND-CP of the Government regulating the delimitation of authority of 2-level local governments, decentralization, and decentralization in the field of urban and rural planning, the inspection delegations found that the locality faced many difficulties from the personnel structure and apparatus while the workload was very large.

For example, in terms of personnel, Ninh Binh has 129 communes and wards, but the number of cadres working in construction (including personnel previously sent from the district level) is very small, while the cadres at the commune and ward levels have not yet met the professional requirements. Therefore, the construction team at the commune and ward levels after the merger is very difficult.

Deputy Director of the Department of Construction of Thanh Hoa province Dao Vu Viet pointed out that the appraisal of projects decentralized to the commune level is very large, while the apparatus at the grassroots level is still being perfected. Therefore, the representative of the leadership of the Department of Construction of Thanh Hoa province proposed a regulation allowing the People's Committee of the commune level to invite experts to participate in the Appraisal Council to conduct appraisals for a number of important authorized projects.

Some other opinions also suggested that the draft law should stipulate more specifically the responsibilities of ministries and branches in guiding and supporting localities, and supplement regulations on the responsibilities of the Ministry of Construction and relevant agencies in monitoring and inspecting the implementation of the law at the local level, ensuring strong decentralization but not laxity.

Commenting on the content of assigning the task of establishing, submitting for appraisal and approval of public investment projects decided by the commune level, Deputy Director of the Department of Construction of Hung Yen province Pham Viet Anh said that for communes that do not have the conditions to establish and maintain a professional Project Management Board as the investor, assigning the investor is difficult. Assigning the Economic Department as the investor has experience in project management, but this unit is also the agency in charge of appraisal, which does not ensure objectivity when establishing, submitting, appraising and advising on approval. If assigned to other departments, they do not have experience and expertise in project management. Therefore, the representative of the Department of Construction of Hung Yen province requested the Ministry of Construction to pay attention to research and provide specific instructions so that commune-level authorities can implement the project more conveniently.

Comments also suggested that the draft law should provide more specific regulations on reporting and inspection regimes after decentralization as well as the responsibilities of ministries and branches in guiding and supporting localities. In response to this opinion, Vice Chairman of the Committee for Science, Technology and Environment Tran Van Khai also suggested that the Drafting Committee add regulations on the responsibilities of the Ministry of Construction and relevant agencies in monitoring and inspecting the implementation of the law at the local level, ensuring "strong decentralization but not laxity", anyone who fails to fulfill their responsibilities will be punished.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/du-thao-luat-xay-dung-sua-doi-phan-cap-manh-nhung-khong-buong-long-10389466.html