In Official Dispatch No. 78/CD-TTg, the Prime Minister requested to reduce the procedures for granting construction permits for works in construction investment projects with detailed plans at a scale of 1/500 or works in areas where urban design has been approved.
According to current regulations, two groups of works must be granted a construction permit, including real estate projects (commercial housing, high-rise buildings, apartments, factories in industrial parks) and individual houses in urban residential areas.
Talking with Lao Dong, architect Pham Thanh Tung - Chief of Office of the Vietnam Association of Architects - commented that granting a construction permit has long been an important measure for urban management. Without a license, people can build it arbitrarily, causing the urban area to be "crushed" and disordered.
"In the previous conditions when we were still managing according to the traditional method, without digital technology, lacking urban design and detailed 1/500 planning, construction licensing was necessary. However, this is currently being done in the context of weak urban management capacity and ineffective inspection work, leading to many shortcomings in the issuance of construction permits" - Architect Pham Thanh Tung commented.
In fact, the law stipulates that construction permits are granted within 15 days, but people are rarely resolved on time. The public disclosure of planning lacks, not even specific instructions, leading to people not knowing how to build properly. Without detailed planning or urban design, people cannot grasp factors such as ground elevation, sidewalk width, reversal area... so they have to ask for permission and ask for step-by-step guidance. This creates many major shortcomings, causing instability for people when they need to repair and build houses; creating a "ask - give" mechanism, causing negativity and corruption; and leading to the situation of littered construction such as super-thin and super-distorted houses, growing on many trillion-dong streets.
Therefore, cutting and simplifying construction permits is completely correct. This is an important breakthrough to transform the management system towards serving the people, reducing cumbersome procedures.
However, removing the licensing procedure does not mean lax management, there must be a detailed 1/500 planning, urban design, and strict urban architecture management regulations. These documents have clearly stipulated the height of the project, the elevation of the foundation, the distance behind, the paint color, the sidewalk... People are only allowed to build within that framework.
When the construction permit is revoked, people can rent the design themselves, take responsibility and register with the government. The State will conduct post-inspections like a completion of construction and conduct surprise inspections of many aspects such as environment, noise, construction time, materials, etc.
The Chief of Office of the Vietnam Association of Architects stated that the removal of the construction permit must be accompanied by strict regulations because it is related to community safety and the living environment. People must also raise their awareness of law compliance, not build it for personal gain. The design and construction unit must also be responsible for any violations such as overlapping construction, making changes to the design will be handled, forced to dismantle and must bear environmental fees if there is pollution and noise.
"I think the Prime Minister's decision is a "dual decision", both facilitating development and forcing people and authorities to comply with the law. However, to effectively implement, it is necessary to fully publicize planning information, especially in urban areas like Hanoi where 70% of people live in small alleys. People must know the typical designs and construction specifications for their land. The grassroots government must have the capacity to meet management requirements, especially in the context of digital transformation" - architect Pham Thanh Tung shared.
At the regular Government press conference in May 2025 organized by the Government Office on the afternoon of June 4, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Danh Huy informed that the Ministry of Construction is reviewing the entire system of legal documents regulating construction licensing, decrees, and circulars issued by the Ministry. In the immediate future, for areas where detailed planning 1/500 has been approved, it can be amended immediately, exempting immediate licensing, and no longer granting construction permits to people.
