Underground car park to get going despite absence of permit
By Van Nam - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – Construction of the first underground cark park at Le Van Tam Park in the city’s District 1 is due to commence on August 8 though the project owner has not yet obtained a construction permit, which may constitute a violation of law, officials said.
Invitation cards have been sent out by the HCMC-based Investment and Development for Underground Space Corporation (IUS) since early this week for the groundbreaking ceremony set for that day, but an official confirmed that the investor has had no permit to date.
The official from the city’s Department of Transport, who asked not to be named, told the Daily on Wednesday, “IUS has not yet been awarded a construction permit for the project by relevant authorities until this moment.”
The department also said on its website on Wednesday that the developer of the project needed to be given the land use right and construction permit before it could start work.
IUS in its official invitation for the groundbreaking ceremony also said that it would drive technical piles into the ground after the groundbreaking ceremony on August 8.
According to IUS, the corporation pledged to complete the drilling of ground for technical piles within four months.
According to Article 72 of Vietnam’s Law of Construction, one of the compulsory conditions for commencement of construction of a project is to secure a construction permit and land use right.
This means that if IUS breaks ground next Sunday without a construction permit, the corporation would violate the construction law. This is also affirmed by Nguyen Hong Tien, director of the Administration of Technical Infrastructure of the Ministry of Construction.
Tien told the Daily on Thursday that in case the developer of this project starts groundbreaking ceremony followed up immediately by other construction works on the project, the act would constitute violations of the construction law.
The Daily on Wednesday approached Le Tuan, president and CEO of IUS, for further explanations of the matter. However, Tuan refused to provide further information, saying, “It is an internal issue of the corporation.”
The underground car park has two separate sections. One section will include five underground basements with a total area of 72,300 square meters for parking 2,050 motorbikes, 1,250 cars and 28 buses and trucks. The other section will have three underground basements with a total area of 31,000 square meters to house commercial and other service facilities.
The corporation said it would construct this large car park in 30 months with total investment capital of some US$100 million.
The HCMC government in 2003 gave approval in principle to IUS to construct this car park. However, time-consuming paperwork has forced the company to postpone the groundbreaking of the project several times.