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Reference update: 03 June 2026. This article is for investors, project management teams and manufacturers preparing to build, expand or renovate factories in Vietnam. It reflects regulations publicly available at the time of writing, including Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP dated 18 May 2026 on decentralisation, reduction and simplification of administrative procedures and business conditions. Because obligations depend on scale, function, location, production activity, environmental impact and local authority practice, each project still requires case-by-case review before filing or commencement.
In industrial construction, delays do not always begin on site. Many projects lose time before construction starts because land, planning, design, environmental or fire safety requirements are not placed on the same legal schedule. When new regulations reduce processing time and move part of the control mechanism from pre-approval to post-review, investors must understand the real message: procedures may become simpler, but the responsibility to prepare accurate files does not become lighter.
For factories, warehouses, auxiliary buildings and technical infrastructure, a legal checklist is not merely a list of permits. It is a way to control schedule, cost and operation risk. A construction file may move quickly, but if fire safety design is inconsistent or the environmental permit does not match the intended production capacity, the project can still stop at acceptance, trial operation or official operation stage.
Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP was issued by the Government on 18 May 2026 to decentralise, reduce and simplify administrative procedures and business conditions under the management of 11 ministries and sectors, including the Ministry of Construction. According to the Government portal, the Resolution comes with appendices for specific sectors and requires ministries and local authorities to implement procedures in a transparent, efficient and business-friendly manner.
For construction, the most relevant point for investors is the shorter processing time for construction permits during the application period of the Resolution. Specialist legal sources citing Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP indicate that the time limit for processing construction permit applications for works, including limited-term permits, adjustment, extension, re-issuance and relocation permits, is reduced to 10 working days from receipt of a valid and complete file. Private houses are mentioned separately with a 7-working-day period; this article focuses on factories and industrial works.
The 10-working-day timeline does not turn an incomplete file into a valid file. It only becomes useful when the submission is already eligible for acceptance. If drawings, land documents, planning basis, design appraisal, fire safety or environmental requirements conflict with each other, the project may still receive requests for supplementation or correction.
Many investors hear “shorter permit time” and expect the entire project preparation schedule to shrink by the same percentage. That is a risky assumption. What is shortened is the authority’s processing time after a valid submission is received. What is not shortened is the time needed to survey the site, check planning, confirm production function, coordinate design, review fire safety, assess environmental obligations and prepare input documents. If these inputs are not mature, early filing only means early return.
A new factory, a capacity expansion, an internal renovation in an operating plant and a high-risk warehouse should not use the same checklist. Investors should identify whether the project is inside an industrial park, industrial cluster or outside these zones; whether it is new construction, renovation, expansion, change of use or an added auxiliary item; production activities, raw materials, chemicals, fuel, wastewater, emissions and hazardous waste; construction scale, building grade, floor area, height, number of storeys and workforce; and land, planning and infrastructure connection status.
Wrong classification creates chain risk. A project described as internal renovation may still trigger environmental, fire safety and technical design review if it increases production capacity, changes chemical storage or adds wastewater-generating lines. Conversely, a project that qualifies for construction permit exemption under statutory conditions must still comply with planning, safety, fire prevention, environment, contractor capacity and acceptance obligations.
For FDI projects or businesses leasing ready-built factories, classification should also include permitted business lines at the leased location. A building may look suitable in area and logistics, but the planned activity may require higher environmental treatment, safety distance or fire safety capacity than the existing premises can support. In that case, renovation cost can change the investment decision.
Decree 175/2024/ND-CP, issued and effective on 30 December 2024, details a number of articles and measures for implementation of the Construction Law on construction activity management. It places a project in a sequence that includes survey, design, appraisal, construction permit where required, construction, supervision, acceptance and related work.
From a project management perspective, the construction permit should be treated as the result of correct preparation, not a separate formality. Before filing, the investor should check planning, land use indicators, density, height, setback and infrastructure connections; verify that design documents are suitable for the implementation stage; identify whether design appraisal is required; check commencement conditions; and confirm the capacity of survey, design, construction and supervision organisations.
When Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP aims to shorten processing time, pre-submission preparation becomes more important. A well-organised file can benefit from the new timeline. A conflicting file will simply turn “long waiting time” into “repeated supplementation”.
At design stage, the investor should ask the consultant team to prepare a coordination table between permit drawings, construction drawings, fire safety requirements, environmental requirements and operating conditions. It should answer practical questions: is there enough technical space, do escape routes conflict with production lines, does the wastewater treatment area have operating space, can fire trucks access the site, and are auxiliary items included in the submission scope?
The Law on Environmental Protection 2020 remains the foundation for environmental obligations. Decree 08/2022/ND-CP is a key guiding regulation, and Decree 05/2025/ND-CP amended and supplemented a number of its provisions. For manufacturing projects, obligations depend on project type, scale, capacity, location, industry and impact level. They cannot be concluded from the word “factory” alone.
The environmental checklist should answer at least five questions: whether the project must prepare an environmental impact assessment report; whether it requires an environmental permit before official operation; whether trial operation of waste treatment works is required; how wastewater, emissions, solid waste, hazardous waste, noise, vibration and infrastructure connections are arranged; and which authority handles the file at the filing date.
Leaving environmental matters “for later” is a common mistake. Wastewater treatment, exhaust treatment, hazardous waste storage, pipelines, manholes, pump stations, treatment tanks and technical space can directly affect architecture, MEP systems, cost and construction sequence. Late changes usually cost more than early review.
For operating factories, environmental compliance also relates to shutdown schedules, sampling, trial operation, waste transfer and periodic records. If renovation takes place while production continues, the project team should identify isolated work zones, temporary wastewater or exhaust treatment arrangements, and whether any change affects the existing environmental permit or documents.
The Law on Fire Prevention, Firefighting, Rescue and Salvage No. 55/2024/QH15 was passed on 29 November 2024 and takes effect from 01 July 2025. Decree 105/2025/ND-CP, issued on 15 May 2025 and effective from 01 July 2025, provides detailed regulations and implementation measures. These rules are highly relevant to factories, warehouses and manufacturing facilities.
The new framework adjusts the lists and scales of works subject to fire safety procedures while increasing the responsibility of investors, owners, designers and contractors. Appendix I.1 of Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP also refers to fire safety design appraisal documents under Decree 105/2025/ND-CP and requires design files to show contents under the Fire Prevention, Firefighting, Rescue and Salvage Law. Therefore, simplified procedures should not be read as permission to handle fire safety late.
Before commencement, investors should check whether the works are subject to fire safety design appraisal; whether architecture, structure, internal roads, escape routes, firefighting water supply, alarms, automatic suppression and smoke control are consistent; whether warehouses, chemical areas, battery charging areas, technical rooms, substations and high-risk zones have been separately assessed; what acceptance inspection is required before use; and how fire safety is managed when construction occurs beside existing operations.
Fire safety is one of the hardest parts to correct after the building takes shape. A fire truck route that is too narrow, a staircase in the wrong location, a storage area with changed fire load or an undersized firefighting water tank can affect both cost and operation date. Fire safety review should therefore start at concept layout stage, not after architecture drawings are nearly complete.
For projects inside industrial parks, investors should review land or factory sublease agreements, permitted business lines, construction indicators, infrastructure connection agreements, site management rules and requirements of the industrial park developer. For projects outside industrial parks, land use purpose, planning, road access, drainage, power supply, water supply, safety distances and environmental and fire safety feasibility become even more important.
Land and planning issues may look quiet during concept design, but once they arise they can stop the whole schedule. Before targeting a 10-working-day permit process, the investor should make sure the location is legally suitable for the investment objective, production function and implementation conditions.
One early check is the compatibility between land documents and actual operation needs. A site may be legally usable but lack drainage capacity, a suitable treated wastewater discharge point, or internal roads that work for containers and fire trucks. These issues can put strong pressure on budget if discovered after lease signing or design freeze.
| Group | Key question | Risk if missed |
|---|---|---|
| Location and planning | Are land status, business line, construction indicators and connections suitable? | Layout, function or investment procedures may need adjustment. |
| Construction design | Are design documents sufficient for appraisal, permitting or implementation? | Submission may be returned or construction may lack legal basis. |
| Environment | Is the project subject to EIA, environmental permit, registration or another obligation? | The facility may not be eligible for operation or may need additional treatment systems. |
| Fire safety | Is fire safety appraisal or acceptance required? | The works may not be put into use; correction cost can be high. |
| Consultants and contractors | Do survey, design, construction and supervision parties have suitable capacity? | Documents may lack legal value and acceptance may be difficult. |
| Commencement conditions | Have required pre-construction conditions been completed? | Penalty, suspension or re-submission risk. |
In addition to this table, investors should maintain a legal schedule alongside the design and construction schedule. It should show which milestones depend on authorities, which depend on consultants, which depend on investor approval and which can only start after a previous result is available. This linked view helps detect bottlenecks earlier than tracking each file separately.
When procedures are shortened, the benefit belongs to projects with good data preparation. Investors should prepare a legal matrix showing applicable regulations, obligations, expected authority, input documents, output documents, completion timing and responsible party. The matrix should be updated whenever capacity, technology, layout, stored materials or construction schedule changes.
Consultants should not work in isolated streams. Construction design must match fire safety; fire safety must match environmental design; environmental documents must match production capacity and technology; and all of them must fit land, planning and operation conditions. Without one coordinating lead, the project can remain slow even if each separate procedure is shortened.
Gova Construction coordinates construction legal compliance, design, fire safety, environmental requirements and construction execution in one management flow. Instead of responding to each procedure only when it appears, Gova can support investors from site and legal condition review, file organisation and design coordination to construction implementation. This approach helps identify bottlenecks early, reduce repeated revisions between consultant teams and keep the operation schedule more predictable.
If a business is preparing a new factory, expansion or renovation, the best time to review legal risk is not when a submission is returned. It is before the layout and budget are locked. An early review with a team experienced in construction law, fire safety, environment and construction execution often reveals risks that a normal project schedule does not show.
Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP and recent updates show a clear direction: administrative procedures are becoming leaner, decentralisation is stronger and post-review responsibility is more important. This is positive for businesses, but it also requires better internal preparation. When processing time is shortened, input file quality becomes even more decisive.
For factories and industrial buildings, a fast project is not one that skips checks. It is one that checks the right issues, at the right time, with clear responsibility. If construction, environment, fire safety and land/planning are placed in one integrated plan, the investor is less likely to be surprised during construction and operation.
Gova Construction can support investors in reviewing legal and technical bottlenecks from the preparation stage, especially for factories that require coordination of construction permits, fire safety, environmental compliance and construction execution. The right approach is not to create more paperwork, but to prepare the necessary documents in the right sequence so the project can reduce risk and protect its schedule.
Main legal references: Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP dated 18 May 2026; Decree 175/2024/ND-CP; Law on Environmental Protection 2020; Decree 08/2022/ND-CP; Decree 05/2025/ND-CP; Law on Fire Prevention, Firefighting, Rescue and Salvage No. 55/2024/QH15; Decree 105/2025/ND-CP. Actual submissions must be checked according to the filing date and project location.
