Circular No. 06/BXD-CSXD guiding certain issues regarding construction management in implementing the "Regulation on investment under the form of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contracts for domestic investment" issued together with Decree No. 77/CP dated June 18, 1997 of the Government.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines on some issues related to construction management in implementing the "Regulation on investment under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Contract Form for Domestic Investment" issued together with Decree No. 77/CP dated June 18, 1997.

pursuant to the form of construction-investment-transfer contract (B.O.T) applied

for domestic investment promulgated together with Decree No. 77/CP dated June 18, 1997

Government

Pursuant to Decree No. 77/CP dated June 18, 1997 of the Government promulgating the "Regulation on investment under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Contract Form for Domestic Investment";
Pursuant to Decree No. 42/CP dated July 16, 1996 of the Government promulgating the Regulation on Investment Management and Construction and Decree No. 92/CP dated August 23, 1997 of the Government amending and supplementing certain articles of the Regulation on Investment Management and Construction promulgated together with Decree No. 42/CP dated July 16, 1996 of the Government;
Pursuant to Decree No. 15/CP dated March 4, 1994 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction;

The Ministry of Construction guides the implementation of the "Regulation on investment under the BOT Contract Form for Domestic Investment" regarding the following issues:

- Preparation and review of the construction portion in the Preliminary Feasibility Study Report (PFST) and Feasibility Study Report (FST) of BOT projects.

- Review of technical design and total project estimate.

- Quality management of construction works.

I. PREPARATION AND REVIEW OF THE CONSTRUCTION PORTION IN PFST AND FST OF DOMESTIC INVESTMENT PROJECTS UNDER THE BOT CONTRACT FORM

1. Preparation of the construction portion in the PFST.

When preparing the construction portion of the PFST, the competent state agency signing the BOT contract must comply with the provisions set out in Section I of Appendix I of Circular No. 09 BKH/VPTD dated September 21, 1996 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment guiding the preparation, review, and approval of investment projects.

2. Preparation of the construction portion in the FST.

When preparing the construction portion of the FST, the BOT enterprise must comply with the provisions set out in Section II of Appendix I of Circular No. 09/BKH-VPTD dated September 21, 1996 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment guiding the preparation, review, and approval of investment projects.

3. When reviewing the construction portion of the project, the competent state agencies and the state agency signing the BOT contract must base their review on the approved regional development plan or industry development plan, planning certificate, construction standards, and safety standards of Vietnam or foreign standards accepted by the Ministry of Construction to conclude the review.

II. REVIEW OF TECHNICAL DESIGN AND TOTAL PROJECT ESTIMATE FOR CONSTRUCTION WORKS

1. Organization of review of technical design and total project estimate.

1.1. All domestic investment construction projects under the BOT contract form, regardless of funding sources and economic sectors, must be reviewed and approved by the competent state agency signing the BOT contract before construction begins.

a) For projects equivalent to Group A with state capital contribution of 30% or more of the statutory capital:

- If the project (or package) is designated for bidding, the technical design and total project estimate (or project estimate) of the work will be approved by the competent state agency signing the BOT contract after being reviewed by the specialized agency for technical design and the Ministry of Construction for the total project estimate.

- If the project (or package) is tendered, the competent state agency signing the BOT contract will approve the technical design after it has been reviewed by the specialized agency. The competent state agency signing the BOT contract will send one set of the approved technical design documents and the bid award notice to the Ministry of Construction for monitoring and recommending necessary actions when needed.

b) For projects equivalent to Group A with state capital contribution less than 30% of the statutory capital and projects in Groups B and C:

The competent state agency signing the BOT contract will approve the technical design after it has been reviewed by the specialized agency.

1.2. The specialized agency reviewing the technical design is the functional agency of the competent state agency signing the BOT contract that approves the technical design. During the review process, this agency may use consulting organizations with legal personality to review necessary contents or the entire design documents according to the requirements of each project, but the specialized agency reviewing the technical design must check the design documents that have been reviewed by the consulting organization before submitting them to the competent state agency signing the BOT contract for approval. These consulting organizations do not review the total project estimate or project estimate of the works they have reviewed the technical design for.

1.3. When reviewing technical designs involving other construction specialties, the reviewing agency must strictly follow and implement the approved construction standards and technical standards of the industry and bear full responsibility for the results of the review.

1.4. The BOT enterprise must directly submit four sets of design documents (for Group A projects) or three sets of design documents (for Group B and C projects) to the technical design review agency as stipulated in Point 2 of this section.

1.5. The reviewed technical design documents must be stamped by the reviewing agency and returned to the BOT enterprise one set, kept one set at the reviewing agency, sent one set to the Ministry of Construction (for Group A projects), and sent one set to the People's Committee of the province or centrally-administered city where the project is located for inspection, monitoring, and storage.

1.6. Time limit for reviewing technical design and total project estimate:

For works in Group A projects not exceeding 40 days, Group B projects not exceeding 30 days, and Group C projects not exceeding 20 days.

1.7. Time limit for approving technical design:

For works in Group A and B projects not exceeding 15 days, and Group C projects not exceeding 10 days.

If the technical design of the work is not approved within the above time limit, the reviewing agency must inform the BOT enterprise in writing about the reasons, specifying the required modifications and returning the design documents.

In cases requiring corrections, supplements, or resubmission of the documents for approval, the review and approval time will be calculated from the date of receipt of the adjusted and supplemented documents.

2. Documents for technical design review:

a) Written materials:

- The application for technical design review shall be prepared according to the model attached at Appendix No. 1 of this Circular;

- Summary of the investment project, copy of the approval document for the investment project;

- Copies of agreements with state management agencies on fire prevention and environmental protection;

- Contract for technical verification and conclusion document of the organization conducting the design verification (if any);

- List of construction technical standards, design models used, list of foreign standards used for design which have been accepted by the Ministry of Construction, software programs for designing the project, list of design issues different from Vietnam Construction Standards;

- Legal copy of land allocation certificate or lease contract accompanied by cadastral map extract at scale 1/200-1/500;

- Documents determining the legal status of the design organization:

+ Domestic consulting and design organizations must have a practice certificate for consulting and designing, with the capacity stated in the practice certificate suitable for carrying out the design work;

+ Foreign design organizations winning the bid or selected to design the project must have a practice certificate issued by their home country, having sufficient capacity to design the project, and must register with the Ministry of Construction for projects in Group A or the Construction Department for projects in Groups B and C to obtain a bidding permit for design in accordance with regulations;

- Comprehensive technical design description, including:

+ Architecture: solutions and main architectural parameters of the project;

+ Structure: solutions and main structural load-bearing parameters, foundation, with the main structure characteristics attached;

+ Engineering systems: solutions and main parameters for energy supply, water supply and drainage, ventilation, lighting, sound information, signaling, fire alarm and extinguishing, automatic control;

- Survey documents on topography, geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, climate, environment, and seismic conditions in the construction area;

b. Section drawings:

- Overall site plan of the project and layout of production processes; - Main architectural drawings of the project: floor plans, cross-sections, elevations;

- Main structural drawings and foundation drawings of the project;

- Main engineering system drawings of the project;

- Main infrastructure system drawings of the project: energy supply, water supply and drainage, ventilation, lighting, information;

- Layout plan and longitudinal sections with main parameters of the infrastructure system and connection diagrams to common infrastructure systems inside and outside the project boundary;

3. Content of technical design review:

- Legal status of the design organization;

- Compliance of the technical design with the preliminary design approved when approving the project and planning approved by the competent authority, solutions not exceeding the provisions of the planning certificate, in cases where there is no planning or adjustments to the approved planning, they must be approved in writing by the planning management agency;

- Compliance of the technical design with Vietnam Construction Standards and Building Standards or foreign building standards accepted by the Ministry of Construction;

- Assessment of the durability of the construction project, the technological rationality of the technical design for industrial projects, safety of the infrastructure engineering system, stability for adjacent projects;

4. Report on technical design review, approval document for technical design and decision to construct according to the model attached at Appendices No. 2 and No. 3 of this Circular;

III. QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

1. Quality of construction projects shall be managed in accordance with the provisions of the "Regulations on Quality Management of Construction Projects" issued together with Decision No. 498/BXD-GD dated September 18, 1996 of the Minister of Construction;

The BOT enterprise, together with the competent state agency, signs a BOT contract to supervise the technical and quality of the project, monitor and inspect construction and acceptance of individual works and the entire project in accordance with the approved design and notify the competent state agency responsible for construction project quality as classified in Point 2 of this section to witness or inspect when necessary;

2. Classification of state management over construction project quality:

- The National Construction Quality Supervision Agency under the Ministry of Construction assists the Minister of Construction in uniformly managing state affairs regarding construction project quality and directly implements quality supervision of construction projects in Group A;

- Construction Departments of provinces and centrally-administered cities assist the Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees in uniformly managing state affairs regarding construction project quality within their respective areas and directly implement quality supervision of construction projects in Groups B and C;

When the BOT enterprise completes and puts the project into operation, the above-mentioned state agency responsible for construction project quality must check compliance with acceptance regulations and has the right to require the BOT enterprise to rectify any violations discovered;

3. Within three months after the completion acceptance of the construction project, the BOT enterprise must complete two sets of final project documents, one set retained by the enterprise and one set sent to the archive agency in accordance with national regulations on document storage;

IV. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

1. This Circular takes effect fifteen days from the date of signature;

2. Other regulations on investment management and construction related to BOT investment not provided for in this Circular shall be implemented in accordance with current laws;

3. Ministries, sectoral agencies under ministries, agencies under the Government, provincial People's Committees, and state agencies authorized to sign BOT contracts within their functions and powers are responsible for guiding and implementing this Circular;

4. In case of difficulties or uncertainties during implementation, relevant agencies are requested to promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Construction for appropriate handling and adjustment.