Đà Nẵng to investigate real estate violations

Mường Thanh Apartment&Hotel complex project on the coastal street of Võ Nguyên Giáp in Đà Nẵng city. VNS Photo Công Thành

The project began selling apartments last year, despite not being allowed to do so according to a statement released yesterday by Deputy Director of the department, Thái Ngọc Chung.

Chung said construction on the project, which began in 2015 on an area of 2,800sq.m with two 42-storey buildings and a hotel, was suspended due to several violations involving the apartment buildings.

He said the project owner, the Mường Thanh Group, illegally changed designs from the second to the fifth floors. The floors should have been reserved for a kindergarten and parking area, but instead 104 flats for sale were constructed.

The department fined the project owner VNĐ40 million (US$1,800) on June 29, 2016, and suspended construction of the project.

The project owner then submitted the city and department a revised design adding the 104 extra apartments for approval.

The city agreed to allocate an area for underground parking lots combined with a kindergarten and park beside the apartment project.

However, the project owner and construction contractor –Điện Biên construction No 1 –resumed construction while awaiting approval for the revised designs from the ministry of construction, the central city’s people’s committee and the department.

Chung said the department once again halted construction of the project on April 11, 2017.

Meanwhile, the project owner and its agent launched sales of apartment, despite the project not being listed as eligible to sell apartments.

According to the project’s marketing and sale agent, Nam Long Land company, apartment buildings were offered from VNĐ15 million ($666) to VNĐ17 million ($756) per sq.m from 2016.

Earlier this year, the city also suspended construction of a coastal eco-tourism project in the Sơn Trà peninsula including the Biển Tiên Sa Joint-Stock company project in the Sơn Trà Nature Reserve; 68 houses and villas in Sơn Trà Mountain and the 43-storey Central Coast condotel project.