Construction projects subject to the inspection for completion in Vietnam

Construction projects subject to the inspection for completion in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Construction projects subject to the inspection for completion in Vietnam

Construction projects must be subject to the inspection of the pre-commissioning test or test for completion by the competent regulatory authorities regulated in Section 2 including:

- Construction works of national important projects; large-scale and complex technical works as prescribed in Appendix VIII of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP;

+ Airport

+ Express motorway

+ Bridge

+ Traffic tunnel

+ Express railway, high-speed railway, urban railway

+ Seaport

+ Oil refinery, petrochemical, petrochemical refinery

+ Hydropower project

+ Thermal power project

+ Reservoir

+ Other large construction projects using complicated techniques approved by the Prime Minister on an annual basis.

- Construction works using public investment funds;

- Construction works having great impacts on the safety and benefits of the community in accordance with the law on management of construction investment projects other than the works mentioned at Points a and b of this Clause.

(Clause 1, Article 24, Decree 06/2021/ND-CP)

2. Authority for inspection of the pre-commissioning test or commissioning of construction projects in Vietnam

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 24 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP (amended in Decree 35/2023/ND-CP), authority for inspection of the pre-commissioning test or commissioning of construction projects is as follows:

- The Council prescribed in Article 25 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP shall be accorded authority to inspect the construction works prescribed in point a of clause 1 of Article 24 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP;

- The specialized construction body directly affiliated to the Ministry in charge of specialized construction works shall have authority to carry out the inspection with respect to construction works, irrespective of whether they are funded by investment capital under their jurisdiction as prescribed in clause 3 of Article 52 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP, including:   

Grade-I construction works, special-grade construction works, construction works assigned by the Prime Minister, construction works located along routes passing through 2 provinces or more;

construction works belonging to projects subject to investment decisions issued by or under the authority delegated to central authorities affiliated to political organizations, Supreme People’s Procuracy, Supreme People’s Court, State Audit, Office of the President, Office of the National Assembly, Ministries, Ministry-level agencies, Governmental agencies and central bodies of Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations (hereinafter referred to as Ministries, central bodies);

construction works belonging to projects put under the authority to issue investment decisions of, or owned by, State economic groups; except for those specified at Point a of Clause 2, Article 24 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP;

- Specialized construction authorities affiliated to provincial-level People's Committees shall inspect various types of construction works within their respective localities under their management according to Clause 4, Article 52 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP, except for the works specified at Point a, point b of Clause 2, Article 24 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP;

Provincial People's Committees may decentralize the inspection of the pre-commissioning test to the specialized authorities affiliated to district-level People's Committees;

- The Minister of National Defense and the Minister of Public Security shall regulate the authority to inspect the works serving national defense and security purposes;

- In case a construction investment project includes multiple construction works or items of different types and grades that are specified in Section 1, authorities in charge of the inspection shall be the ones responsible for the inspection of main construction works or items ranked at the highest grade amongst those of this construction investment project.

3. Procedures for the pre-commissioning test for completion of a construction work or project in Vietnam

Specifically, Clause 6, Article 24 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP stipulates the procedures for the pre-commissioning test for completion of a construction work or project as follows:

- 15 or 10 days before the investor’s proposed date of testing for completion of the special-grade or grade-I project, or  the rest of works prescribed in Article 23 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP, respectively, the investor must send 01 set of documents to request the inspection of the pre-commissioning test according to the provisions of Appendix VI of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP to the specialized construction authority;

- The specialized construction authority carries out the inspection involving those specified at Point b, Clause 4 of Article 24 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP. In case where the construction work is not inspected during the construction process according to the provisions of Clause 5 of Article 24 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP, the inspection will be carried out as stated in Clause 4 of Article 24 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP.

The written document stating approval of the investor's test results shall be issued in accordance with the provisions in Appendix VII of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP while the written document stating rejection of the investor’s test results shall be issued, clearly stating issued that need to be handled.

The time limit for issuing such written document by the specialized construction authority is not more than 30 days for grade-I, special-grade construction works, and 20 days for the remaining construction works, from the date of receipt of the written request for inspection of the pre-commissioning test;

- During the inspection process, the competent authority specified in Clause 2 of Article 24 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP shall be entitled to request the investor and stakeholders to explain and address issues (if any) and request controlled experiments, construction testing and inspection, bearing capacity testing of construction structures according to the provisions of Article 5 of Decree 06/2021/ND-CP;

- Competent authorities are allowed to invite organizations and individuals having appropriate competencies to participate in the inspection and testing work.

Ho Quoc Tuan

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