The Government is urging construction companies to use unbaked bricks inplace of traditional bricks, the production of which cuts intoagricultural land and pollutes the environment.

Baking onebillion bricks required 1.5 million cubic metres of land, according toDeputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam, who said 22 billionbricks were baked each year and the number would reach 40 billion by2020.

However, construction sector experts said customers wouldnot accept new materials until government agencies ensured the qualityof unbaked bricks.

Tran Duy Phuc, Director of Thanh PhucConstruction Material Company in Hai Phong, said that unbaked brickswere more durable and water-resistant than baked bricks, in addition tobeing 20 to 30 percent cheaper and significantly easier to produce.

However,his company sold only 30 percent of the billion bricks it produced thisyear to building projects in Hai Phong and neighbouring areas.

DeputyDirector of the Building Materials Department Pham Van Bac said theMinistry of Construction had issued a circular on using baked andunbaked bricks in building projects.

Under the circular,construction projects can use only unbaked bricks for building projectsin cities ranking third tier or above, while using unbaked bricks for 50percent of building projects in lower-tier cities by the end of 2015and for all of construction from 2016 onwards. Buildings with nine ormore storeys must be built with at least 50 percent green materials.

Thecircular also encourages local producers to break down their brickkilns to improve the quality of construction and protect the environmentsince they had gained large profits due to low environment taxes andlow input and labour costs.

He added that the Government shouldissue specific regulations to control the exploitation of clay, raiseenvironment taxes and help local authorities shut down brick kilns.-VNA