Hanoi authorities have admitted failures in the planning and licencing of a tall building situated too close to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Ba Dinh District.

According to a decision signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in 2013 on the adjusted master-plan for Ba Dinh, the maximum height of buildings in the district was capped at 11 floors.

However, the Discovery Complex II building located on Le Truc Street has 17 floors, including 12 floors of apartments and offices. The Le Truc Garment Joint Stock Company flouted the law and are now offering 5,600 square metres of space for sale and rent.

The investor seems to have behaved as though it could flout any regulation it liked after authorities filed another complaint in March last year revealing the Le Truc had built four basement levels without permission.

The investor also continued with the construction despite being requested to stop the project due to exceed the height restriction.

Hanoi's People Committee fined the investor five times for the illegal construction between July 2014 and July 2015. In a report submitted to the prime minister recently, the local authorities had been approved by the government in 2013 based on existing planning regulations but they admitted they had not inspected construction frequently and were not strict enough in dealing with the violation.

In a bizarre press release on September 30, General Deputy Director of the Le Truc Garment Company Le Van Dung said that their project had received approval from the Ministry of Defence for a building no taller than 70 metres which they believed allowed them to over-ride the legal planning restrictions.

Speaking to DTiNews, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army Vo Van Tuan, said the company’s opinion was obviously nonsense as height restrictions were to do with clear flight paths and had no effect on planning regulations.