Karaoke establishments are waiting a long time for approval.

VietNamNet•07/04/2023

Editor's note:

New fire safety regulations are causing many businesses to get stuck. Many large-scale investment projects are stalled because they haven't received fire safety certification. The problem lies in the fact that businesses themselves don't know how to meet the fire safety requirements.

VietNamNet published a series of articles reflecting this reality in many localities.

Viet Anh (30 years old, Can Tho City) leaves home at 8 am and finishes work around midnight. Working 16 hours brings him an income of about 450,000 VND/day, equivalent to 13.5 million VND/month.

He uses the money to support his family of four (including his unemployed wife and two young children). They live together in a rented room in District 7. Notably, he is working three different jobs to earn that income: karaoke bar employee, ride-hailing driver, and waiter at a pub.

Following the fire at the An Phu karaoke bar ( Binh Duong province) in September 2022, Ho Chi Minh City authorities conducted a comprehensive inspection of karaoke, bar, and nightclub businesses throughout the city to ensure safety. As a result, the karaoke bar where Viet Anh worked had to close for repairs. The bar reduced his working days, so he only worked three days a week, primarily focusing on guarding and protecting the bar's facilities. For the past six months, his basic salary has been reduced to one-third of what it was before.

“I worked in the karaoke industry for 7 years, and my salary used to be stable. Now I have to work extremely hard, without a day off, just to earn that income. Because of prolonged unemployment, many of my colleagues have left and returned to their hometowns,” Viet Anh shared.

Even after fixing it, the problem persists.

Viet Anh is just one of thousands of freelance workers in the karaoke service industry who have been affected. Workers have suffered wage reductions and unemployment, while businesses have been hit even harder. Of course, the lack of fire safety measures must be rectified, but the karaoke bar where Viet Anh worked has not yet been approved by the authorities to reopen.

All the doors at a karaoke bar were removed and replaced with fireproof doors. (Photo: Tran Chung)

According to preliminary calculations by PV. VietNamNet, the aforementioned karaoke bar has invested in repairs and replacements, including: 31 fire-resistant doors at a cost of approximately 12 million VND per door; 3 fire extinguisher cabinets at 15 million VND per cabinet, placed on 3 floors; a fire alarm system and automatic electrical cut-off system costing 30 million VND; 20 karaoke rooms with repairs costing 45 million VND per room, all with concrete walls, no longer soundproofed with flammable materials; two emergency exits; an on-site water source for fire pumps; emergency exit signs and emergency corridor lighting...

"The fire department has inspected the facility before. We submitted an application for approval but haven't received a response yet, and we don't understand the specific reason," the karaoke bar representative wondered.

According to this representative, the cost of repairing the business locations in the system has amounted to tens of billions of VND. The cost of maintaining rent is approximately 12,000-15,000 USD/month/location (rounded to about 300 million VND/month). The owner is having to mortgage personal assets and borrow money to keep the business running.

In Bien Hoa City ( Dong Nai province), the owner of GBB karaoke bar affirmed that business has never been as difficult as it is now. The establishment suffered losses after two years of the pandemic, and then had to cease operations due to fire safety regulations. If they want the bar to meet current standards and regulations and qualify for acceptance testing, they would almost have to rebuild from scratch.

A new automatic fire alarm system at a karaoke bar. (Photo: Tran Chung)

There is no common ground yet.

According to statistics from PC07 of Ho Chi Minh City, during the peak period of karaoke, bar, and nightclub business activities in the city from September 7th to December 15th, 2022, local police inspected 100% of the establishments, with a total of 1,091 inspections. The police issued 377 administrative violation reports, with fines totaling over 2.74 billion VND.

From December 16, 2022 to March 2023, the police in districts/counties/Thu Duc City conducted 543 inspections; issued 88 administrative violation reports with a total fine of 558 million VND; and revoked security and order compliance certificates for 117 establishments.

According to a review, Ho Chi Minh City has 449 establishments providing karaoke, dance clubs, and bars; as of March 2023, 396 establishments remain (36 have been dissolved, and 17 have switched to other business types).

Responding to press inquiries regarding fire safety at karaoke bars, nightclubs, and bars in mid-March 2023, Colonel Huynh Quang Tam, Head of PC07, Ho Chi Minh City Police, stated that the city has 344 establishments that do not meet fire safety requirements; they have been instructed to prepare design documents for approval. However, only 58 out of 343 establishments have submitted design documents to PC07 for renovation approval, and only 2 documents met the requirements and received fire safety approval.

Colonel Tâm noted that, in recent times, many establishments have carried out renovations, repairs, and rectified existing fire safety violations; however, these businesses have not yet submitted applications for renovation approval, thus failing to comply with regulations.

On the other hand, because the corrective actions were taken before the design documents were approved, the facilities had not fully rectified all existing issues or violations, or the corrective actions had not met the requirements of the standards and regulations.

However, a representative of a business unit attending the dialogue between PC07 and businesses operating in the karaoke, bar, and nightclub sectors in the area on March 30th stated that PC07's answers to the businesses' questions were too general. Currently, no specific unit has signed a decision to issue a more detailed approval process for these businesses.

Tran Chung - Hoang Anh

Vinh City 'closely monitors' karaoke bars 24/7 . Leaders of Vinh City (Nghe An province) have issued a directive instructing the chairmen of wards and communes in the area to assign personnel to be on duty at dozens of karaoke bars 24/7.

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