Investors are requested to submit reports on the implementation of residential projects before April 30. — A corner of Times Tower project in Ha Noi. Photo tin247.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Ha Noi Department of Construction has set April 30 as the deadline for investors to submit reports on the implementation of residential projects, of particular concern are waste water treatment stations.

According to Le Duc Duc, director of the Ha Noi Department of Construction, although the city has over 150 residential areas and thousands of high-rise residential blocks, many of them don't have waste water treatment facilities or discharge untreated waste water into to city's sewage system.

One of the cited reasons for the phenomenon is that investors don't want to put money into non-profit areas of their projects, Duc said.

No strict regulations for punishment have yet been drafted to encourage, or scare, investors into executing their projects according to their submitted and approved plans, he said.

The Tin Tuc (News) newspaper recently reported that Nam Thang Long-Ciputra, generally regarded as a model urban area, lacks a sewage treatment facility.

Other urban areas in Ha Noi like Yen Hoa, Van Khe and My Dinh haven't put into effect their waste water treatment systems despite being fined for polluting the environment.

An official from Song Da Thang Long Joint Stock Company, an investor in the Van Khe urban area, said the framework for a waste water treatment zone has been finished. However, he added, it hasn't been put into operation because machinery and technology costs are too expensive.

The head of the Ministry of Construction's Department of Urban Development, Do Viet Chien, said the mass development of urban areas in the past were spontaneous and was not planned properly. As a result, these urban areas lack major infrastructure needed to serve residents and prevent environmental pollution.

Lack of regulation of urban area development as well as redundancy and overlap in legal documents confuse both competent agencies and investors, Chien said.

Investors also focus on the number and size of urban areas but don't care about sustainable development and environment-friendly factors, he said.

Chien said ministries and local authorities should more closely monitor the development process of urban areas and settle misdoings as soon as possible to ensure that projects are compatible with existing infrastructure and other ongoing projects.

Dao Ngoc Nghiem, former director of the Ha Noi Department of Planning and Architecture, said urban areas should be strictly classified. For example, he explained, it's not necessary for a small scale residential area to build a large waste water station.

Pham Sy Liem, vice president of the Viet Nam Construction Association, in turn, blamed authorities' loose management for the lack of sewage treatment facilities in urban areas. — VNS