At a meeting on Monday with Lien Chieu District authorities, some relatives of Mr Ngo Van Quang, who is the owner of an illegally-built villa in Da Nang, pleaded guilty to its illegal construction.  They asked permission from the district authorities to demolish the villa themselves. 

The meeting was without Mr Ngo Van Quang, the owner who constructed the 100 billion VND villa without permission inside the boundaries of a special-use forest area near the Hai Van Mountain.  He is the Director of a gold company based in Quang Nam Province.

Full view of Mr Quang’s villa (Photo: vnexpress.net)

The Chief of the district’s People's Committee Secretariat, Mr Pham Minh, granted permission for Mr Quang’s family to complete the demolition, but it must be completed no later than 30 January 2016 and the district authorities will monitor the work.  He also remarked that the district’s relevant agencies will enforce the demolition if the family does not complete the demolition on time.

In late 2014, the Lien Chieu District authorities discovered 2 illegally-constructed buildings in the locality.  They were Mr Quang’s villa and a 4,000ha villa of Major General Phan Nhu Thach, former Director of the Police Department of Quang Nam Province.

The authorities imposed administrative fines on the owners of both properties for their illegal construction work, and asked them to demolish their buildings within 35 days from 4 February this year.

Mr Thach had his villa demolished in March, whilst Mr Quang has delayed the demolition and repeatedly appealed for support from different agencies to retain his building.