The Ministry of Construction has just made a mark in administrative reform when it entered the top 3 ministries and sectors that completed the targets according to Conclusion 18-KL/TW, after reviewing all 454 administrative procedures and proposing to cut a series of business conditions.
In 2025, a total of 297/451 procedures were reduced or simplified, equivalent to 65.8%. The time to resolve administrative procedures was reduced by 1,691 days, reaching a rate of 31.6%; compliance costs decreased by more than 3,977 billion VND, equivalent to 35.6%.
In the field of construction, the Ministry of Construction has soon concretized it into the provisions of the Construction Law passed by the National Assembly in 2025 (effective July 1, 2026).
In which, the content regulating works that are not required to have a construction permit in Article 43 of the Law takes effect immediately from January 1, 2026.
One of the highlights is the proposal to abolish the procedure for "Construction design appraisal implemented after basic design".
This is considered a major reform step, transferring the initiative to investors to self-organize appraisal and design approval.
At the same time, abolishing business conditions for enterprises participating in construction activities; abolishing professional certificates for some fields.
In addition, many types of works have been proposed to be added to the area exempted from construction permits (GPXD), including specialized construction works, works on national defense and security land, works in airports and especially works that have been appraised by specialized construction agencies for the Construction Investment Feasibility Study Report.
The time to resolve many procedures has also been significantly shortened. Specifically, the procedure for issuing new practicing certificates has been reduced from 55 days to 8 working days; the appraisal of feasibility study reports has been reduced from 35 days to 25 working days; the issuance, repair, and renovation of construction permits for special grade, grade I, and grade II projects has been reduced from 20 days to 10 working days; and the issuance of operating licenses to foreign contractors has been reduced from 10 days to 8 working days.
Not only shortening time, reducing administrative procedures also helps significantly reduce compliance costs for businesses. The abolition of the post-base design appraisal procedure helps save all costs of carrying out this procedure.
According to calculations, the abolition of the procedure code 1.013234 alone saves more than 2.75 billion VND per year; another similar procedure code is 1.013218, saving more than 621 million VND per year.
At the same time, the transition to a full online process allows people and businesses to only submit one set of electronic dossiers instead of two sets of paper dossiers as before, significantly reducing printing, copying, postal and travel costs.
In which, it is proposed to abolish the requirement for practicing certificates for individuals presiding over the determination, appraisal and management of construction investment costs; abolish the conditions on capacity and experience for individuals presiding over construction inspection; simplify standards for the position of construction site commander...
Regarding construction permit procedures, it is proposed to establish a new settlement time standard to speed up project progress, including: 10 days for issuing new construction permits, 9 days for adjusting construction permits and only 7 days for individual houses; study a plan not to require people to submit documents that can be extracted from the national database.
According to Mr. Bui Van Duong, Deputy Director of the Economic - Construction Investment Management Department: Currently, the Ministry of Construction has submitted to the Government a draft decree detailing a number of articles of the Construction Law.
In which, the Ministry proposed to clearly stipulate the authority to license each agency such as the commune-level People's Committee, the Management Board of industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech parks, economic zones and the Department of Construction to avoid overlap.
Regarding the implementation process, the Ministry of Construction proposes that all eligible cases will have full online procedures. People only need to submit one set of electronic dossiers instead of two sets of paper dossiers as at present.
In particular, management agencies will not require people to return existing documents on the national database such as land use right documents. According to the new proposal, the construction permit issuance time will be reduced by about 50% compared to the present, to about 7-10 days depending on the type of project.
It is expected that the guiding decree will be issued by the Government and take effect at the same time as the 2025 Construction Law takes effect on July 1, 2026 for people and businesses to implement to ensure no interruption and smoothness in the process of resolving administrative procedures related to construction permits.
