Ha Noi drafts regulations to preserve prized French villas

The Ha Noi Construction Department is preparing draft regulations for the management and use of the city's prized State-owned French-style villas for the People's Committee's eventual approval.
People's Committee chairman Nguyen The Thao has asked the department to gather expert opinion for the writing of the proposed regulations.
The regulations would define the responsibilities and tasks of villa management agencies, owners and occupiers; list prohibited activities and the rules for co-operation with French preservation experts, he said.
The chairman stipulated that the Planning and Architecture and Culture as well as the Sports and Tourism departments must urgently provide a profile and specific classification of villas built before 1991.
The villas - a symbol of Ha Noi with important cultural and architectural values - were seriously degraded and it was time to ensure they were properly managed and preserved, he said.
Construction Department deputy director Nguyen Quoc Tuan said the regulations would prohibit the misuse of State-owned villas, including their demolition.
Changes to their design, structure and height would be banned and the extension and misuse of the space on which they stood would not be allowed.
Livestock and poultry breeding, commerce and noise and air pollution would also be stopped.
The regulations would divide the villas into three categories: Historical and cultural structures; special architectural value and the remainder.
The regulations would nominate the category of the villas and the owners and occupiers of degraded structures would have to report the status of the buildings to the Construction Department to obtain consultancy and construction permits.
Ha Noi Construction Planning Institute deputy director Bui Xuan Tung said that because the villas had been illegally altered and extended, the proposed regulations would need to clearly define who was allowed to make any alterations and how these changes were to be made. It was also necessary to list all the original profile of all the State-owned villas, including their original design and structure, and their current status.
The information could then be used to protect the villas.
Ha Noi People's Committee deputy chairman Hoang Manh Hien said the new regulations would even include the specifications for construction materials.
Construction department figures show that Ha Noi has 970 State-owned French-style with 804 misused.
Some accommodate more than 50 households.