On the morning of November 6, continuing the program of the 10th Session, the National Assembly discussed in groups the draft Law on Construction (amended) and a number of other bills.
Speaking in the group on the draft Law on Construction (amended), Venerable Thich Bao Nghiem (Hanoi National Assembly Delegation) proposed to add regulations on professional ethics of engineers, architects, investors and contractors, taking the reputation and professional conscience seriously.
The delegate of the Hanoi delegation stated that in recent days, public opinion has been very concerned about the incident of the Lo River bridge (Phu Tho) - a large project that has been in use for more than 10 years - appearing severely damaged. This raises questions about the quality of construction, supervision and acceptance.
This incident shows the need to improve legal standards, responsibility for management and supervision of construction works.
Because the current law may not be strong enough on sanctions and criminal liability for poor quality works. Or it is unclear about the role and responsibility of relevant parties such as investors, public service units, supervisory organizations, etc. Therefore, the delegate expressed that the law is not only to perfect state management tools but also to build a strong foundation of ethics and professional culture, a foundation for safe, sustainable, and humane construction.
Regarding this issue, delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi National Assembly delegation) said that the provisions in the draft can be understood as the investor has the right to supervise the construction of the project when meeting the capacity requirements and being responsible for its supervision. Therefore, this delegate suggested that this regulation should not be applied.
"This is a situation where football is playing at the same time as blowing the whistle. It is not possible to build but also supervise. Supervision must have a separate supervision consulting unit" - delegate Nguyen Anh Tri said and emphasized the need for strict sanctions against supervision consulting when errors occur.
Citing the lesson of the Lo River bridge piers in Phu Tho that was reported by the press, the delegate said that the supervision consultant must know about this.
"The supervision consultants know but don't say anything. Seeing the bridge pillars, the whole land in the middle, is extremely strange and I see a feeling of oppression... - delegate Tri shared.
According to this delegate, this is a huge lesson, so the construction and supervision unit cannot be one but must be separated very clearly. Supervisory consulting is a profession, independent, qualified, knowledgeable, and responsible.
Delegate Ha Sy Dong (Quang Tri National Assembly Delegation) suggested that the drafting committee consider and add a control mechanism after the investor appraises the design.
This delegate proposed that for large-scale projects with complex techniques (according to the criteria prescribed by the Government), investors must hire a consulting organization with sufficient capacity to review the design and report the results to the state management agency (for example the Department of Construction) before construction.
According to delegate Ha Sy Dong, it is necessary to strengthen the state acceptance inspection stage, so we should study and assign specialized agencies to build the right to inspect the acceptance work of investors for important projects, "rather than only checking after-sales when there is an incident".
The Construction Law stipulates that management agencies inspect important construction acceptance work before putting it into use, the new draft needs to be inherited and more specifically.
"The removal of the intermediate design appraisal is reasonable to simplify procedures but it is necessary to add a safety net to ensure the construction works are of good quality and safe in operation" - delegate Ha Sy Dong expressed his opinion.
