CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE MAINTENANCE OF CONSTRUCTION WORKS

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP of December 16, 2004, on quality management of construction works;
Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 90/2006/ND-CP of September 6, 2006, guiding the implementation of the Housing Law;
Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 36/2003/ND-CP of April 4, 2003, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction,
The Ministry of Construction guides the maintenance of construction works as follows:

I. GENERAL GUIDANCE

1. Scope, subjects and objects of application

This Circular provides concerned organizations and individuals with guidance on the contents and order of maintenance of construction works which are funded with capital of any sources and of any ownership forms in Vietnamese territory.

2. Purposes of maintenance

Maintenance aims to preserve architectural characteristics and utilities of works to ensure that the works can be operated and exploited in compliance with their design requirements throughout the process of their exploitation and use.

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3.1. Dossiers and documents used for the maintenance of a construction work include:

a/ A dossier on the completion of the construction work (legal dossier and quality management document);

b/ The book for monitoring the operation or use of the work;

c/ A document on the process of maintenance of the work;

d/ Dossiers and documents on periodical inspections of the work or its parts or components during its exploitation and use;

e/ A document on technical standards for the maintenance of the work.

3.2. Dossiers and documents used in the maintenance of a work must be archived and updated with the changes in the work.

4. Responsibilities of concerned organizations and individuals for the maintenance of works

4.1. Design contractors: To develop a process of maintenance of construction works.

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a/ To organize the maintenance of construction works according to the process developed by design contractors;

b/ The application of this Circular is encouraged for works which are separate dwelling houses in rural, deep-lying or remote areas or private one-story houses without street frontage.

4.3. Ministries managing specialized construction works:

a/ To promulgate documents guiding organizations and individuals to implement legal provisions on the maintenance of works, and promulgate technical standards and regulations on the maintenance of specialized construction works throughout the country which are under their management;

b/ To inspect and urge localities to manage the maintenance of construction works.

4.4. Provincial-level People's Committees:

Provincial-level People's Committees shall perform the state management of the maintenance of construction works located within the administrative boundaries under their management. Provincial-level Construction Services shall assist their provincial-level People's Committees in uniformly managing the maintenance of construction works in localities. Provincial-level Services managing specialized construction works shall manage the maintenance of those works.

a/ Provincial-level Construction Services:

- To submit to provincial-level People's Committee presidents for promulgation documents guiding the implementation of legal documents on the maintenance of construction works in localities; to inspect the observance of regulations on the maintenance of construction works of grade III to special grade irrespective of their investment capital sources, construction works affecting urban architecture or involving incidents, threatening to cause catastrophes to people, assets or the environment.

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b/ Provincial-level Services managing specialized construction works, including provincial-level Industry Services, Agriculture and Rural Development Services and Transport Services (or Traffic and Public Works Services) shall annually inspect the observance of regulations on the maintenance of works and report thereon to provincial-level People's Committees and ministries managing specialized traffic, irrigation and industrial construction works, irrespective of their capital sources, within the administrative boundaries under local management.

c/ Provincial-level Culture and Information Services shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with provincial-level Construction Services in, guiding and inspecting use managers in conducting the maintenance of their construction works which are recognized as national historical or cultural relics in localities under their management according to regulations.

Annually, provincial-level Culture and Information Services shall report to provincial-level People's Committees, the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Ministry of Construction on the maintenance of construction works already recognized as national historical or cultural relics.

5. Levels of maintenance of construction works

The maintenance of a construction work is conducted according to the following levels:

5.1. Renovation and maintenance shall be conducted regularly to prevent damage to each detail or part of the work.

5.2. Minor repair shall be conducted to repair damage to a number of details of parts of the work to restore their original quality.

5.3. Medium repair shall be conducted to repair damage to or degradation of a number of parts of the work to restore their original quality.

5.4. Overhaul shall be conducted to repair damage to or degradation of many parts of the work to restore their original quality.

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6.1. For public offices the use managers of which are public administrative agencies: Their maintenance funds shall be taken from regular state budget funds.

6.2. For public offices the use managers of which are non-business administrative agencies: Their maintenance funds shall be taken partly from regular state budget funds and partly from revenues generated by these agencies.

6.3. For condominiums: Their maintenance funds are specified in the Housing Law and the Government's Decree No. 90/2006/ND-CP of September 6, 2006.

6.4. For other civil and industrial works: Their owners and use managers shall seek by themselves funds for the maintenance of those works.

6.5. For specialized works:

a/ For traffic works: Their maintenance funds are specified in the Government's Decree No. 168/2003/ND-CP of December 24, 2003, and the Transport Ministry's guiding documents.

b/ For other specialized works, the Government and ministries managing those works shall promulgate specific regulations on their maintenance.

II. ORDER AND ORGANIZATION OF THE MAINTENANCE OF WORKS

1. Order of maintenance

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1.1. For new construction works, their maintenance shall comply with the process developed by design contractors.

1.2. For works which are currently in use without a maintenance process, their investors or use managers shall hire qualified organizations to inspect and assess the quality of the works and develop a process of maintenance for those works.

1.3. Inspection and assessment of the quality of works:

Investors and use managers of works shall inspect the works to assess their quality in order to prevent their degradation. Inspection shall be conducted at the following points of time:

a/ Regular inspection shall be conducted by owners or use managers to detect in time signs of degradation of their works.

b/ Periodical inspection shall be conducted by specialized organizations and experts having professional capabilities relevant to the type and grade of works at the request of investors or use managers of the works.

Periodical inspections shall be conducted as follows:

- At least once for every three years for theaters, cinemas, circuses, schools, hospitals, stadiums, gymnasiums, supermarkets and construction works with similar functions, and works which are greatly affected by the environment.

- At least once for every five years for other civil works (high-rise condominiums, hotels, government offices, working offices), construction-industrial works and urban technical infrastructure works.

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After obtaining the results of periodical inspection, depending on the actual quality of their works, owners or use managers shall decide on the appropriate levels of maintenance of the works.

c/ Irregular inspection (extraordinary inspection) shall be conducted in emergency cases (flood, storm, fire, earthquake, collapse, etc.); repair; doubt about the exploitation capability after a thorough inspection has been conducted but no cause has been identified, or when a work needs to be exploited with a higher loading capacity. Irregular inspection must be done by qualified experts or organizations.

1.4. Owners and use managers of construction works shall themselves maintain the works (if they are qualified to do so) or select qualified organizations or individuals to maintain the works according to the levels of maintenance.

1.5. Supervision, pre-acceptance test and warrant of maintenance of works:

a/ Owners or use managers of works shall supervise the construction of their works and check the maintenance of the works before accepting it in accordance with the Construction Law and the Government's guiding decrees and the contracts signed with the maintenance contractors. If being unqualified to do so, use managers of the works shall hire qualified consultancy organizations to supervise the construction of the works and check the maintenance of the works before accepting it.

b/ For works being dwelling houses, their maintenance shall comply with Articles 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81 and 82 of the Housing Law.

c/ The duration of warrant for the maintenance of works shall be counted from the date owners or use managers of the works sign records on acceptance of the maintenance of the works before use and is specified as follows:

- At least 6 months, for works of all types subject to the maintenance level of renovation and maintenance or small repair;

- At least 24 months, for works of all types subject to the maintenance level of medium repair or overhaul.

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2. Organization of implementation

2.1. Owners and use managers of works shall make an econo-technical report when repair work costs less than VND 7 billion and make an investment project when repair work costs over VND 7 billion for submission to competent authorities for approval. If being unqualified, owners or use managers of works shall hire qualified consultancy organizations to make those reports or projects. For maintenance at the level of renovation and maintenance, owners or use managers of works shall make cost estimates based on their maintenance funds and submit them to competent authorities for approval.

2.2. For maintenance work costing less than VND 1 billion, owners or use managers of works are not required to set up a project management unit and may assign their specialized section to manage the projects or hire professional and experienced persons to manage the project execution.

2.3. When conducting the maintenance of works without changing their architecture or bearing structure or affecting their safety, owners or use managers of the works need not apply for a construction permit.

2.4. The maintenance of works must meet the following safety, sanitation and environment protection requirements:

a/ To absolutely ensure safety for adjacent works, builders, work users, and vehicles running or operating at work sites;

b/ To select rational measures and time of construction in order to minimize noise, gas emissions, dust, vibration, etc., caused by vehicles, machinery or other construction equipment used in the maintenance of works;

c/ To observe the Environmental Protection Law, labor safety and construction safety regulations in the use of construction machinery and equipment.

III. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

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2. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, provincial/municipal People's Committees, central agencies of mass organizations, state corporations, and concerned organizations and individuals shall implement this Circular.

3. Problems arising in the course of implementation should be reported in writing to the Ministry of Construction for study and settlement.