$69.4m housing fraud discovered

The Government Inspectorate has found many violations in housing projects in Ha Noi. - Photo dantri.com.vn

The violations and the poor quality of planning of residential areas were discovered after inspectors checked 38 out of 204 projects.

They found that housing plans were adjusted several times, leading to changes in the heights of buildings and land use. In particular, the arbitrary adjustment of plans affected the order, discipline and interests of the State, according to the inspectors.

“This situation has led to difficulties in developing urban planning for the city,” Tran Huu Loi, head of the inspection delegation, told the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.

The violations benefited investors because they were not obliged to pay more land-use fees or land rents as the adjustment of plans were made in favour of the investors, causing losses to the State budget, the Inspectorate said.

Further, housing project developers did not fulfill their financial obligations. For example, the investor of the CT2 land plot under the Kim Van-Kim Lu New Urban Area Project in Hoang Mai District did not pay a land-use fee equal to VND733 billion ($32.24 million), although it built houses for rent.

In many projects, inspectors found investors had illegally altered land-use and construction plans, using more land but not paying fees for the extended area.

At the time of inspection, many investors had not yet paid obligatory fees to the State budget.

The Ha Noi People’s Committee also miscalculated land use fees and, in some cases, housing project investors did not fulfill all their financial obligations, resulting in a shortfall of VND6 trillion ($266.6 million) for the State budget.

On the basis of the inspection results, the Government Inspectorate has proposed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to direct the chairman of the city People’s Committee to take measures to rectify shortcomings and violations in management of construction investment and land use.

The committee needs to review and check project investors violating land use and construction plans to handle the violations, it said.

Organisations and individuals must also review their management responsibility, the Government Inspectorate added.