Vietnam: Which construction investment projects must have a preliminary environmental impact assessment?

According to Clause 11 Article 1 of the Law on amendments to Construction Law 2020 of Vietnam, the preliminary assessment of environmental impacts is supplemented to the contents of construction investment pre-feasibility study reports.

Upon construction investment, the investor or the agency or organization tasked with project preparation must make a preliminary environmental impact assessment before making the construction investment feasibility study report. Construction investment projects subject to preliminary environmental impact assessment include:

- National important projects and group-A projects using public investment funds;

- PPP projects as prescribed in the Law on investment in the public-private partnership form;

- Projects of which investment policies are approved by the National Assembly or the Prime Minister as prescribed by the Law on investment, the formulation of construction investment pre-feasibility study reports is compulsory;

Thus, upon construction investment, project owners or agencies or organizations assigned to take charge of project preparation shall make a preliminary environmental impact assessment in accordance with the provisions of the law on environmental protection and other contents in accordance with relevant laws before making the construction investment feasibility study report. This is a completely new regulation compared to the previous one in the Construction Law 2014 of Vietnam.

Besides, it should be noted that for construction of detached houses of households or individuals, neither construction investment pre-feasibility study report nor construction investment economic-technical report is required. This regulation means that there will be no preliminary environmental impact assessment before making the construction investment feasibility study report.

View more details at the Law on amendments to Construction Law 2020 of Vietnam, effective from January 01, 2021.

Ty Na

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